spiralqueen

While the filet is amazing at CK, I would say it ranks 3 best steak on the ship for me behind CK ribeye at #1 and Giovanni's filet which was #2. Giovanni's filet had a tad more flavor in the sauce/marinade which I liked. And the CK ribeye was melt in your mouth and super flavorful. I ate most of it with my eyes closed to better savor it. Oh and the chocolate cake in Giovanni's was the best dessert I had on board hands down. Oh and one thing I had every morning in the Windjammer on Grandeur was this sliced sweet bread with either raisins or craisins in it which was found over by the oatmeal. I sprinkled some of the cinnamon from the oatmeal on the slice and it was *chef kiss* I don't know if they have this on the bigger ships, but keep an eye out for it.

The suite pricing was just TOO good to pass up. It was something like $1500 pp for 3 people in a 2 BR grand suite. I mean come on!!

Oh I just realized I never posted about the sailing we booked when on board Grandeur. Can you please add November 21, 2021 on Oasis to the master list? So excited to be trying out the 2 bed room grand suite for the steal we got it at! Yaaaaay Sky Class! (I have already resigned myself to never being able to afford Star so I'm very excited about this).

Maybe it's been awhile since I looked at the "my calendar" feature on the cruise planner, but I noticed when I went on there today that there is the option to add custom events to your calendar besides the ones Royal auto populates with your purchases! Has anyone else noticed or used this feature? It seems like it would be great for adding things you really don't want to miss that you see in past cruise compasses. Or plotting out ideal times for specialty dining if you have a dining package. You can even pick which people in your party that you want to add the event to their calendar. I'm definitely going to be playing with this feature in the near future!

I’m still amazed that my first time on Coco Cay post renovation was with Grandeur of the Seas, one of the smallest ships, there alone. 2,400 some people there total. Talking with my cabana attendant, she was saying that they (Coco Cay employees) love it when the smaller ships are there alone because not only is it less crowded, but the people tend to be less entitled in demeanor. I guess the mega ships can attract people who are more high maintenance than the more low key ships.

The “Hilton” on this is the British Colonial Hilton in Nassau where we had a day pass. Coco Cay speed test was done from a Chill Island cabana. Other tests are on Grandeur. As you can see, Grandeur in the early morning is fine. At night? Nightmare.

Ohh ok good to know! Did you go to one of the kiosks they have set up when you board? I haven't been on a Quantum class ship yet so I don't know their exact set up for reservations.

When I was last on Allure we were able to get it at Park Cafe (where they had the specialty coffee and deserts), Vitality Cafe (outside the spa), and the MDR or Windjammer if you asked for it specifically. I don't remember seeing it at the Solarium Bistro. The other fresh juices and smoothies at Vitality Cafe are also included in the refreshment package and are my favorite part of having it on an Oasis class ship.

If it’s open on time and you are able to go I would love to hear how you like it and how crowded it is! I’m especially interested in shaded seating options and noise levels (like how the pool has loud music piped in but chill island doesn’t). Pictures would be amazing, but I thought I remember you saying that you don’t often take pictures when you are on vacation and I don’t want to put you out.

I really enjoyed the day pass we did this past November with the British Colonial Hilton. It was nice that it was a very easy, short walk from the pier so we didn't have to bother with taxis or transport. I did a review with some pictures here

That’s so odd! I wonder if they were using the same boxes? This is what mine looked like in the box. It was a semi cardboard/recycled paper type box which I felt let it breath a bit more than the old plastic ones. Maybe we were just lucky and had our cabana attendant deliver it immediately after it was prepared so it wasn’t sitting around as long? We were also pretty close to the snack shack so there wasn’t a very long way to travel with it.

Awesome, ty! Is the happy hour the same as the Diamond HH?

I was debating on asking this question too so I’m glad you did! I know that there are free drinks in the Suite Lounge around dinner time, but if I wanted a drink at, say, 2pm is that free as well in the lounge? Or is it the same hours as Diamond happy hour? Also, can you get multiple drinks with multiple cards? Like if I made a suite lounge run for me and my dad with his card could I get 2 drinks? Or does he need to be present? I wasn’t sure how much it works like other bars onboard where they care more about card than person.

I have found the Snack Shack crispy chicken sandwich to be more similar to the Shake Shack chicken sandwich. Which, PS, I’m a fan of. I was impressed by how well the sandwich traveled too. I had it when we were in a cabana and I was taking an exploratory walk when the food came. I was about 20 mins late for the sandwich (after cabana delivery. Lord knows the travel time from snack shack to there) and it was still quite good. Now. The free bonus drink I got due to a bar error might have had SOME effect on my sandwich enjoyment, but I maintain it was yummy! I was also shocked by how well the fries traveled. Not the mozzarella sticks. They are good, but eat them first!

Even though you paid for two, it was as a solo cruiser paying double occupancy. This is why there are some experienced cruisers who make up a “ghost” second passenger on the reservation who they have no intention of ever showing up. If you were to add another name now and just be a no show yourself it would still trigger a reprice since you aren’t swapping out a name but rather adding one. I understand your frustration, but this is overall a civil board and there’s no need to insult someone who is just trying to help you and is an incredibly helpful member of the community. Some people are getting a tad snarky now, but it’s because they perceive you to have “fired first”. I wish you luck in your new job!

I personally think a JS is the perfect amount of space for a 3 adult situation. Where the 1 person going alone would be super expensive but in the same stateroom brings down the price for everyone. ETA: I say totally unbiased as the adult daughter sailing with her parents on family trips.

I LOVED our 8th floor JS on Allure. The convenience to Central Park is great and crossing from one side of the ship to the other through central park is a downright pleasure because it's so gorgeous and peaceful.

Day 7: Sea Day! I woke up pretty early this morning feeling a little queasy. The following video was taken at 7am and was from the seating area near the deck 6 Cafe Lattitudes. The outside decks were closed due to weather. IMG_2761.MOV That noise you hear in the background is the ship creaking. The hot chocolate was amazing but the banana muffin I didn’t bother taking a picture of was again, offensive. I have to believe that Royal is allergic to cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, clove, and ginger judging by the banana muffins and pumpkin pie. That muffin didn’t do quite enough in settling my stomach. I could tell I needed carbs and grease. Aka hash browns and sweet raisin bread with a sprinkle of cinnamon on it. This called for Windjammer. That really hit the spot. Post- WJ, I went to the Solarium where there were a bunch of spots. But many of them were in direct wind blow of the doors and thus VERY chilly. I went to the back to camp out and it worked out really well. The return trip was a bit turbulent. This was the pool. Shockingly it was quite vacant for most of the day. IMG_2762.MOV I wonder why. Anyway, I read in the Solarium for quite some time until it was dinner time. Because of the thanksgiving disappointment, we went with the WJ and it was much better. Nice little cheese wheelbarrow display A food officer came around to our table while we were eating to semi subtlety fish for top marks on the post cruise survey. We expressed to him that it was our best WJ experience across the fleet. That was not ass kissing. Grandeur has an amazing WJ IMO and except for the first night and formal nights, we went there for dinner and had no regrets. After dinner, I realized that it was the last night on board and I hadnt visited the casino yet. This had to change. Now I’m a roulette gal. I know the rules of blackjack, but it requires math and I despise when I get dealt my hand and the others react before me to my hand. No ty. I’ll take random chance over feeling like an idiot tyvm. Anyway, I went down to the casino and there was only 1 roulette table and it was packed. I did a couple of laps to see if anyone would move or if there were any video roulette machines. Nay to either of those. I then remembered the primary rule of cruising. If you don’t ask, they can’t help. So I approached the casino host and mentioned that I was looking to play roulette but the open table has been packed and I couldn’t find a video roulette machine. Was another table going to be open at some point? I was told to wait at an empty table and it would have a dealer in 5 minutes. I gladly did so. Now this request didn’t require me to be some high roller. I have a superstition where my buy in for roulette is $60. It has never served me wrong. I went to that table and I was alone for some time until some some adorable teenagers came over to join me. I really liked them because they made me feel like a high roller. When they were buying in at $5 total, me playing the inside and outside in the same turn felt like some sort of Monte Carlo nonsense. My buy in superstition served me well and at some point I had more than doubled my money. Right when I was a bit more than doubled my buy in, the dealer changed and I followed my golden rule. Give the new dealer 2 rounds. If you lose both, walk. Anyway, no one cares about my winnings, but I mainly wanted to share that if you want to give Royal money and the tables are full, talk to the casino host. It can’t hurt.

Sorry guys, I definitely dropped the ball on finishing this live blog. Honestly, part of the reason I let it die was because the internet speed on Grandeur at night in my 2nd floor room was ATROCIOUS. As in could not even connect to a text based website let alone upload pictures, etc. I don’t regret getting internet, but if you are going on Grandeur, definitely adjust your internet expectations. Hell, the fact that it can’t even cope with the app should be a sign. Love the ship and crew, but it is NOT very tech savvy. Anyway. Day 6: Thanksgiving and Sea Day! I had a vague memory of sort of this time the other leg of the cruise (aka on the way down) that the weather meant the Solarium was SUPER crowded due to the pool deck closure. So that meant early morning Solarium stakeout and thus breakfast in Park Cafe vs Windjammer. Breakfast was an egg and Canadian bacon sandwich and a breakfast burrito. Honestly???? I love the WJ for breakfast, but this rly hit the spot. The fact that it was put through a panini press helped matters greatly. Honestly, my solarium stakeout wasn’t necessary because I think I was thinking of the 2nd day down/tomorrow in liveblog time for pool deck closure and solarium crowded level. At some point I realized that “oops” I forgot my yeti cup in the room and I really was missing it because it makes a huge difference in how long my drinks and ice lasts in my solarium bumming around. So I decided to pop down to the room to grab it. Normally this isn’t an issue because everything is hella close on vision class ships and in normal circumstances I can go from aft solarium to forward 2nd floor stateroom and back in 6ish minutes. Except today. When I boarded the elevator I realized belatedly that some (hopefully) small children decided that pressing every button on the elevator was a great life choice. I was alone in the elevator when I took this picture after the 8th floor. When I say I abused mashing the “door close” button. I mean it. Anyway, after that, I was able to retrieve my yeti cup with minimal interference. Once back up there, I stayed camped out in the Solarium for quite some time until it started getting to the point of dinner time. It was formal night, but also thanksgiving night. One annoying thing was a lack of lobster for the second formal night. I’m sure this isn’t normal for a standard sailing. For dinner I ordered ham with normal mashed potatoes substituted for roasted sweet potatoes and a side of the beef Wellington so I could give it a try. I also decided to try the pumpkin pie. In the interests of full honesty about the MDR experience, there were multiple disappointments. 1. The mashed potato instead of sweet potato substitution was ignored. 2. The beef Wellington side didn’t include its sauce so it was weirdly dry 3. As a pumpkin pie aficionado I was legitimately OFFENDED by the pumpkin pie offered. It most closely resembled yam baby food. There was no spice. I had no taste of the cream cheese angle of it. Please. I beg of you. If you like pumpkin pie in anyway. Don’t order it on RCI. Anyway. Despite my complaints, im still glad I tried the MDR for thanksgiving bc it was a nice experience and made me appreciate the food of other MDR nights and Coastal Kitchen. When we got back to the room, Derique had made us an adorable turkey towel animal!

Right now there is not a suite benefit to Coco Cay. IMO if you think there SHOULD be, that’s something that belongs in a post cruise survey if you have Coco Cay on the itinerary. Maybe if they hear from enough people, it will be something they consider. I don’t always cruise GS+, but I think there should be some sort of parity between Labadee and Coco Cay so I made note of it in my survey.

Yaaaaay! There’s already a decent number of us on Oasis that week. I’ve taken to calling it the Unofficial satellite group cruise lol. If you look on FB there’s a group for our sailing already started by @FloatMe

I assume one of the exceptions to this is if you wanted to add money to a cash account if you didn’t have a credit card hooked up.

November 21, 2021 - Oasis Cant wait for that 2 BR GS!!!!

Excellent, that’s definitely me. Thanks! ETA: Yes, I AM already researching and planning for sky class in 2 years time, why do you ask? This is totally sane behavior. Don’t judge me.

When you say the primary contact, do you mean you were listed as Passenger #1 on the invoice and therefore it went to you?