Deedeelynn

Yup.  Especially since the only one that Royal still serves after the menu changes is the Strawberry one.
No need to wait for the 2nd formal night, just order a strawberry daiquiri.  Then you'll get some rum included too.
But before they changed the menus, there were some more interesting varieties.  

The Italian - American New Yorker over here just died. ?
 
 

I wouldn't expect Royal to get anything with the word "cyber" in it correct anyways ?

We just got off from this itinerary last Sunday.  
I hope you and yours have a wonderful time and that you get as wonderful weather as we did!!
 
If you're into such things, I believe there are three martini-making classes, the first being this afternoon, with Patrick in the Champagne bar.
 
Have fun and smooth sailing!!!
 
My favorite spot on the ship:

 
Second favorite, in the evening after dinner - they have a piano/violin duo playing classical music and it's heavenly.

On Harmony last week and Captain Gus told us the difference between a ship and a boat... “A ship has a captain. A boat has a frustrated husband”. 

With my artistic juices flowing (the wine in the Solarium Bistro at dinner was really good) I was inspired to take more night photos around the ship.


The Perfect Storm slides were still open.


Inspired by the color changes within the art in the Solarium that I saw during dinner in the Solarium Bistro I knew I had to try to capture it.








It really is pretty spectacular and something anyone who sails Symphony needs to experience.

Day 11 - Dinner
Dinner tonight would be in the Solarium Bistro.  It's a pretty great location for dinner and with the Solarium changes on Symphony it is a pretty awesome venue for dinner.
For those that want a short summary - come eat here.  Must. do.
The Solarium at dinner is by reservation but at no charge unless you want to enhance your dining experience with a special entree.
The 'menu' is offered outside on flat panel displays for your consideration.


Solarium Bistro is not a full sit down specialty dining venue.  You will be escorted to your table but you will not be presented a full menu to order from. 


With the Solarium right outside the floor to ceiling windows of the Bistro make it a pretty great dining location.


Instead of a dinner menu I was offered a wine list to start and informed that the Bistro is more of buffet of sorts.  A foodie buffet.

My waiter did mention some specials one of which caught my ear.  A filet for $12.  Like a land restaurant the nightly specials don't appear on the menu.   I decided I better try the filet.  For $12 it's all in the name of research.
Having ordered the filet special I was invited to eat from the buffet as if I had not ordered an extra cost item.  
The Bistro is a collection of small items that you are free to pick as many of one, or a selection of many,  as you see fit.  



 


There is also a pasta station where you can pick your ingredients and have them make a unique pasta entree.  



A salad station offers different types of salads to pick from.

My 'appetizer' tonight.  Mixed Salad, Chicken Kabob and Kofta.

By this point the sun had set and the beautiful art of the Solarium was illuminated with ever changing colors.  Quite mesmerizing to watch.  

Perhaps it was the wine, but it is a very unique and nice dining venue that really struck a chord with me.

Very quickly my filet arrived.

Cooked just as I requested and very good.  Yum.
Time for dessert.


O. M. G.  
I would have taken pictures of dessert but I found myself diving into the wonderful flavors.  The Baklava really was good.  So were the two other dessert items I managed to eat.  Three desserts?  I don't normally do that but they were so good.
I wish I had found the Solarium Bistro earlier in the cruise.  While I'm not a foodie by nature the Kofta and Chicken Kabobs were really good as an appetizer.  I would gladly pay the $12 for the filet again.  Dessert - just wow.  
Between the ambiance of the venue itself and the food offered it was a highlight meal of the cruise for me.

Day 11 - Last Sea Day
Sometime around 4:30pm I was in Central Park having a glass of wine when the sky caught my eye.  Have I mentioned I love Central park?

I saw the early signs of a sunset so I headed up to the Solarium.
The Solarium Bar is back open!


When sailing into the sunset the Solarium is a pretty great location to take it in.


I was joined by several sunset enthusiasts tonight.


It was really kind of special.  Our last sunset in the Atlantic before making Port Canaveral tomorrow for Symphony of the Seas first ever U.S. port of call.

Do you remember day one I showed my balcony pictures and the obstruction from the black bag that hangs across the boardwalk behind the Abyss?

It turns that contains a fishing net that is part of the HiRO Aqua show.  It's function is artistic only.  At the end of the show it flies out in the air over the Aqua Theater and remains suspended in the air as guests are walking out of the show.  It's secondary function is to turn premium boardwalk balconies into obstructed boardwalk balconies. 
Here on day 11 they have lowered the fishing net and it's bag down to the floor for maintenance and the glorious unobstructed views aft returned (for a few hours at least).  I can actually see all of the aqua pool and stage now!  I can see ocean sitting in my balcony chair!


It actually make a huge difference in the boardwalk balcony experience.
After 11 days this is my only gripe with the cruise.  I guess that's not bad.  

Our feelings exactly - before we went there. We were pleasantly surprised.

Day 11 - Sea Day
Breakfast in the MDR this morning.  Given the large numbers on this sailing, deck 4 has been set aside for Diamond and Diamond Plus.
Breakfast menu for the MDR


Solarium Bar update
It looks complete at this point.

Caulking in between glass panels was added last night.

Did someone ask for some pool pictures?

No worries for us mere mortals there. Only PiT, Pinnacles and Suites were in the danger zone, at least for our show. No central seats for the low status crowd - couldn't quite contain my schadenfreude when royalty got wet without sitting in the splash zone ?

With that our tribe begins to appear unified and equal.

Each is wearing a common tribal outfit.





I've seen all of the aqua theater shows and this is my favorite.  It's high energy with lots of action, plenty of diving and incredible aerial work.  It's more artistic in places and uses technology to highlight the incredible performance of the cast which itself is outstanding.
The aerial components are incredible and add a lot to the show.  Be aware though, when they get wet by dipping into the water they do drip onto the audience below, all over the theater.  

Given that it's a sea day I worked much of the day.  A periscope notification told me some of the RCPeriscopers and Royal Caribbean Blog readers were starting their Yeti Pub Crawl.  Then they were sliding down the Ultimate Abyss.  Not long after they were below my cabin in Playmakers.  Soon enough they did the Carousel.  All in their bathrobes.
@Big Dawg Ron

@cookingyo and Mrs. Cookingyo







What happens on Symphony of the Seas stays on the internet.

Post-show walk through Central Park to the sounds of live acoustic guitar.  So peaceful.

Captain's Corner

Given the large numbers of C&A Top Tier they figured this would be well attended and moved it into the main theater.
Captain Rob has a unique and dry sense of humor.   It was used extensively during this session much to the crowd's delight.
Just as he was about to begin, some guests in the crowd broke out in "Happy Birthday to you...".  Apparently today is his birthday.

Symphony has a number of innovations including a slightly different hull shape that along with the air lubrication system (and other changes) make her 25% more efficient than Oasis.  According to Captain Rob if you could see both ships in dry dock side by side the differences in the hull would be pretty apparent.
Captain's Rob first ship (at Royal) was Grandeur.  He was a Bering Sea fishing captain before joining Royal.  Moving to Royal he accepted a pay cut and joined as a junior bridge officer.  He worked up through the ranks to eventualy become a Captain again here at Royal.  
There are currently two Masters for Symphony, Captain Rob and Captain Rick.   They work a 10 week on/off cycle.  They keep in touch with each other at all times and let each other know what's going on around the ship.
According to U.S. Health Department code that the ship follows even in international waters, any food that is once placed out for consumption but not used is destroyed and run through the waste management process.  It is not, despite rumors, fed to the crew or used the next day.
The little deviation we did last night was due to cleaning out the ship's economizers in the stacks.  They need to be cleaned periodically and the zig zag course was executed as part of the cleaning process according to Captain Rob.
Captain Rob is not aware of any four sisters meet up.  He thinks it may happen, but at some future point.  He was on Oasis during the planning of the three sisters and that planning started months before it occurred. As he offered "Photoshop works really well and is a whole lot cheaper".

An enjoyable session with the Master of the vessel.

Day 8 - Sea Day
It seems we did two 'Crazy Ivans'  last night.

Breakfast at Johnny Rockets again.  Followed by a Walking Tour of Central Park with Laszlo, the Landscape Specialist on board.  

Laszlo is very familiar with Central Park and those with some historical knowledge of the Oasis class will recognize Laszlo since he has played a critical role in establishing all Central Parks across the Oasis sisters including the first one on Oasis.

With an April in service date in the Mediterranean Central Park had to be outfitted differently with plants designed for the European climate since it would sail for seven months there before this transatlantic.  Now that she is heading to the Caribbean, Central Park will slowly be changed to feature more plants that are designed for a tropical climate.  That will occur slowly as plants die or otherwise need to be replaced through 2019.  With over 12,500 plants on the ship they can't possibly change it all at once.  
The trellis should begin to grow with cover over the coming months with it's permanent plants in place.

A few weeks ago the ship encountered some nasty storms that were responsible to coating the ship with layers of salt water kicked up by the storms.  That included Central Park and Laszlo was quite sad when he returned from his scheduled vacation a few weeks ago to see the damage within Central Park done by those storms.  Plants don't like salt water.  Along with his three assistants they've been busy trying to bring it back to it's former glory.  The Living Wall has some bare spots as a result.

The Central Parks across the Oasis fleet have evolved as they learned what works better in an environment like Central Park.  Many plants are actually now in special 'pots' or steel cubes much like a planter that can be lifted out on demand to access electrical and plumbing lines that weave under the fabric of Central Park.  That's an evolution compared to Oasis where they routinely had to dig up plants and soil to access and do maintenance.   

Now that I know to look for them, I can see the planters most plants are contained in.

You can tell Laszlo loves this job and doesn't even view it as a job, it's a passion.


Winds in Central Park tend to come from aft.  As the ship moves forward air passing over the upper decks hits the aft glass wall and curls around in a forward motion closer to deck 8 level.  During her encounter with a storm a few weeks ago these winds actually knocked over some of the trees within Central Park.  Laszlo has never seen that on any Oasis ship before.

Plants used within Central Park and subject to the agricultural restrictions of each country visited.  Even though she was first built out in Europe they had to choose plants that are approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for her arrival in America.  Upon our arrival they will send inspectors to the ship to check each and every plant to confirm it meets USDA regulations.  
Many countries do the same on a periodic basis, even some smaller Caribbean nations although Laszlo suspects some of them just want to see the ship and enjoy a lunch aboard.  None the less protocol requires they allow these inspections to occur for every country the ship visits.
Australia has some of the toughest agriculture regulations and for this reason it is unlikely they will ever send an Oasis class to Australia because they would pretty much have to strip Central Park bare and start all over with local Australian vegetation.   For similar reasons they won't take Oasis class to cold climates like Alaska because Central Park's tropical plants would be devastated and it's a significant investment in the serious six figures ballpark.  The 2018 budget to begin migrating Central Park to tropical vegetation is around $250k according to Bobby Brown our CD.  That's just to begin the job.  
Central Park has a fire break zone in the middle just in case a fire were to break out.  In this manner the fire would not spread the entirety of the park.  This fire buffer includes height restrictions for trees and distances from sides and balconies.  There is a lot more to Central Park then just some plants.
The tool shed for the landscapers.  This is the entirety of the space the have on board.  The irrigation control panel is located here where they can water the many different irrigation zones that cover Central Park.

On surveys Central Park often ranks near the top of favorite neighborhoods on the ship.  
Our 30 minute session turned into 90 minutes due in no small part to how passionate Laszlo is about Central Park and it's vegetation.  


It was a very interesting tour and I'd like to see Royal invest a little more into it such as giving him a microphone and portable speaker or offering it more than once a cruise.

I haven't really addressed our cruise director on this sailing - Bobby Brown.
I have to say a CD doesn't make or break a cruise for me.  I like some more than others but it's not a deal breaker for me.  I had Bobby as a CD on Harmony (I think).  To be honest he didn't leave a great impression on that cruise.  
However in the "always keep your mind open" department he has been better than I anticipated on this cruise.  I've actually watched the Morning Show more than I usually do. 
One thing he added to this sailing was a unique special - "How Do You Maintain An Ice Skating Rink On A Cruise Ship?".  
As a cruise geek this was really cool.  Ice cool.  Just kidding, but really informative.  
We enter Studio B to see someone.. watering the ice.

Joining Bobby in this presentation is Rubin, the stage manager who looks after Studio B.

They discuss thing like where the dance floor used during "RED" or Laser tag is stored (hint, it's under the center section and it slides out from under the seats). That's different from other ship in different classes.
As it turns out sailings like a 12 night transatlantic are an opportunity for some maintenance activities.  The ship has been in service for several months and while things like the ice surface could go on, once the ship enter routine seven night sailings it would be much more disruptive to perform certain essential maintenance including replacing the ice in Studio B later on, so they took advantage of this 12 night sailing to melt Studio B.  To. The. Floor.  They melted it down to the bare floor.  Like defrosting a freezer at home, once in a while it just has to be done.  
They began melting it down right after (ok, during) the last ice skating show.  That took overnight, then they had to clean it all up and get ready to make new ice.
They have since been building the ice up, millimeter by millimeter, by hand, watering each layer every 15 minutes or so, around the clock, since.  In fact as we listened to the presentation, the crew came out to repeat the watering process we saw when we first arrived.

Then again.

The water is special filtered water.  This will continue for the three days, around the clock, until the ice approximately 3.5 cm thick (1 1/2").  But that's not all.  
If anyone follows Nick Weir, VP of Entertainment for Royal he has been touting how they have AMPED up the projection technology on Symphony over Harmony.  That in part starts in the ice.
Within the ice is embedded a membrane that enhances the resolution of the surface as a projection technology.  That membrane was just replaced here on Symphony and you can see it now only because this new ice is crystal clear.
At a distance you don't even see it.

Zoom in closer and you do. 

Symphony is the first to employ this projection surface embedded within the ice, not even Harmony has it.  Not yet.  
Studio B has it's own mini-Zamboni used to dress the ice surface each day.

The projection technology consists of six side mounted projectors that project onto this surface.

Each projector costs around $100k.  Combining the six projectors, three port, three starboard into what appears to be a complete image requires precision.  The manufacturer is based in Japan and when they need to re-align them (it's a moving ship in seas, stuff moves) they need to fly the engineer in from Japan to align them occasionally.  
Next they talk about drones.  Very interesting.  Forty eight drones with twelve spares on hand.   Very special technology because within Studio B there is no regular GPS signal like a consumer drone might use.  They have to create a reference 'cube' within Studio B for the drones to fly within.  That's where these black boxes hanging from the ceiling come in.

There are several of them mounted around the perimeter of the ice.  Combined with some floor mounted reference points and two portable white cubes placed on the ice surface they create a 3D GPS-like environment for the drones to operate in.  Now that they told us this, I recall seeing two white cubes sitting in the middle of the ice floor at the start of the show '1977'.
Before the show starts, while we are all waiting outside in line, the drones have to be checked to ensure they are happy with this reference cube.  If they aren't it has to be recalculated.  This is very new technology in use and with 48 drones operating in synchronicity, it's very precise.
The drone batteries are very special and they can't be flown due to HazMat laws.  That means when they need new batteries, they'll need to be shipped to America now that Symphony is on her way to Miami.  
As we listen on, two more crew come out to "grow" the ice.  Another few millimeters accomplished.

It turns out these are two of the Ice Skating cast.  Even they get into the act.  It's a team effort, four times an hour, around the clock, for three days.
You know how they don't seem to open the doors soon enough?  I certainly felt this on Adventure of the Seas recently when the Ice Skating show had long lines.  It turns they can't.  The room is temperature controlled and letting all that air conditioning out affects the ice surface.  They have to keep the doors closed as long as they can.  Lesson learned, be patient.  
It was a very interesting presentation unlike others I've seen on a ship and I thank Bobby for putting it on.  It gives me a greater appreciation for the level of effort that Royal puts into their entertainment.
One last note.  On the way out I saw these coins embedded in the ice.

Seems to be a tradition for the current cast who just changed over.  The previous ice skating cast, their first contract complete, has just headed home for a short vacation.

The ship is busy with lots going on.

Day 7 - Sea Day
Another beautiful sunny day at sea.

The Captain mentioned the idea of swell and how it can come across the ocean from thousands of miles away.  On this day the remnants of Hurricane Oscar are over 1,200 nm away but the source of our swell today.  Wind and waves are from the East behind us, the swell from Oscar is come from the West and North in front of us.  The ship is pitching slightly and pools have been drained to avoid water sloshing around.  It's a subtle movement today where occasionally one movement might be a little stronger than most.
The swell is best seen when video is sped up or in this case a time lapse:
The Solarium is popular today.



They must be working on the new Solarium Bar cover in the overnight hours as each day a little bit more is done.  They now have four glass panels in place:

The Solarium Bistro:

Well, when you retire (like a lot of us here) you can say "worked to cruise". 

That is standard from a @twangster live blog ?

Day 6 - Late
Some late night boardwalk pictures...





Our progress...

It was time to head to dinner and I always try to find an excuse to pass through Central Park.  Tonight was no different.

Finally a sunset worth taking pictures of.






What's better than a great sunset?  A great sunset the largest cruise ship in the world!