irishgirl0525

Exactly!

The only thing I'm going to do is POSSIBLY jog around the track if I'm up early enough in the mornings. Other than that, I'm going to eat what I want and enjoy. Presumably not to the point of exploding 🙂

Thanks for the blog, I have enjoyed reading it. We are going on this itinerary in March on Allure. What time did you meet the ride for Maya Chan?

I am feeling like we don't need to do and can wait and let our 5 year old do it when she is older, but we have talked it up so much to her before now, she is looking forward to giving a dolphin a kiss, so I'm torn. I am sure we can do a lovely beach day in Cozumel instead.

My husband is now second guessing our Dolphin encounter because he feels it's not fair that they are in captivity so I'm not sure if we'll cancel and do something else or if he'll just deal with it. I feel the same way about it but I guess i have an easier time turning a blind eye to it. It will probably bother me when i am there. I'm researching other options for the day in Cozumel, but for now this is what we have booked.

Oh that is an early excursion! Maya Chan is $57pp per day, but you would be able to take advantage of lunch while you are there and get your money's worth. You may want to write to Jane at Maya chan and ask her thoughts on the timing. It takes about 25 minutes to get there from the cruise port so there is travel time too. She is very helpful, see what she says.

I keep checking since I have seen others say they got it for $42 but I'm guessing it won't change. Maybe I'll get lucky!

I got it for $52/day. I had hoped to find it for lower but that's the lowest I've seen so far so at least I've got the best price as far as I know. We were just talking about this because my husband listened to the podcast about the drink package yesterday and is it worth it for us. It could be but we are pretty sure that drink fatigue will hit us, hopefully not too early in the week. I didn't know how to delete those tags up there so they are just hanging out, sorry.

I thought the same thing when I saw that cauliflower "steak". Give me a break. I know a lot can be done with cauliflower, but let's not get carried away. We're not idiots.

Yes this all sounds good, though I didn't realize that they always have a filet on the menu, at least I didnt' see it on a sample menu. But that's great to know. Ah a fellow North Jerseyan! I live in central NJ but work near Morristown and I see your point. Have you been to 90 Acres? We did their "Bring Me Food" tasting menu for our anniversary earlier this year and yes, it was definitely pricier than Chef's table. To your point about the MDR on night 1, I also don't want to miss out on meeting our table mates on the first night, it's one of my favorite parts of cruising. I may just wait until after Christmas to book, right now all of the nights are available. I can definitely do more than 5 glasses of wine (and hopefully feel ok the next day) but then we also have the Deluxe drink package which may not get any use that night so then is it worth it, especially if we are just tired of drinking later in the week. I keep going back and forth on this but for now, we have the deluxe drink package and we'll probably keep it that way and decide if we need it in the future or not. We can drink our fair share but I'm not sure if we can for 7 days in a row. Thanks so much for this info, this helps a lot.

Thanks! I don't want to discount Chops, I love a good steak house but i have just been surprised at how many people I have heard say that they were disappointed about Chops overall. That doesn't always stop me 🙂 Thanks for the info on Lobster night. That's kind of what I thought but I was curious to know if it ever changed. I know things are always subject to change. Maybe we will just take our chances and see if they are offering any kind of discount for Chef's Table. It sounds like a cool experience. We went to a farm to table restaurant for a "bring me food" experience, where they gave a list of ingredients they were using for the night and then brought us different dishes with wine pairings and we enjoyed that, so maybe this will be a good choice for us)

Thanks for the feedback and thoughtful reply about 150 CP. I was planning to get the Chops Filet in the MDR for the additional charge. Is that the filet that you said wasn't good? i figured that the MDR filet would not be as good as that one but that if it was from Chops it would be the one they serve there. . They don't have Jaimie's on Allure unfortunately. I don't know if I would have the nerve to ask for an entree from a different restaurant, but if we don't make it to Chops, maybe I'll ask for the tater tots from Chops which look really good to me. I forgot to mention we are on Allure. I wish we were going to be on Symphony because I might eat every night at Hooked, that menu looks great, and Playmakers as well.

Thank you!

We plan to do MDR for our upcoming cruise on Allure, but I think we would like to do one or 2 specialty restaurants for dinner as we will be celebrating both our 10th anniversary and my husband's birthday and I did make a reservation at 150 Central Park. In looking at the sample menus on line for 150 Central park I am not wowed by the dishes, but I have seen everyone raving about this venue, so I am intrigued. I have only just started looking at Chef's Table but the cover charge gives me pause. Is it absolutely amazing? What do you like best about these restaurants? I don't want to waste an opportunity to try something that is a must eat. I also don't know if I want to add $200 to our bill, we are already getting pre-cruise purchase items like the drink package and you know how it all adds up! I have seen on another board that some people have gotten a discount to Chef's Table while on board, what is the likelihood of that happening? As background, we enjoy dining out and do so frequently, we generally don't do chain restaurants and we have easy access to NYC restaurants. We like interesting but not crazy menu items (for example, I have tried but do not like sweetbreads or other organ meats). I like sushi but my husband is not a fan so Izumi is probably not going to be an option for our specialty dining. (But I fully intend to do the sushi making session!) I originally thought we would do Chops, but based on reviews I have heard, I'm thinking I'll just get the Chops filet in the dining room to get my tenderloin fix. Oh and while I'm asking about food, can we get a great burger on the ship? Thanks for your advice!

I would love to know what, if any craft IPA beers they have on board and where is the best bet to get them. Would love to see a cruise compass now that they are sailing out of Miami and also would love to know what night lobster night is. Are you going on Eastern Caribbean or Western? Thanks in advance!