KristiZ

Well, that’s what happens when witness protection gives you a new identity!

Tonight we chose to dine at Izumi. We had eaten in an Izumi once before, back in 2012 or 2013. Then we were living in Asia after that and Izumi because less interesting. Now that we’re back in the Western Hemisphere we were looking forward to eating here again. On Serenade, Izumi is in a lovely location on Deck 12 aft. The space is very pretty. The fun tableware, plus my She’s A Geisha beverage (tastes like koolaid ). Chicken Karaage: Pork Gyoza: Tonkatsu Ramen: Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura: Chef’s Choice Sushi plate: FYI, the $35 option is a huge amount of food. We ate ala carte and got out at less than $24* per person. And we walked out on our own power — no wheelbarrow needed to get us back to our cabins! *Edit to adjust the math. I forgot we got a random 30% discount from the waiter!

Definitely. But this time they’re blocking the Viking Crown completely, day and night. First time I had seen that. I plan to get to the Loyalty Desk to confirm my suspicion that a large percentage of people on this trip are D or higher.

I love snorkeling. I also have a tiny face, so it’s always the kids masks that fit me, and I often have a hard time convincing the tour operator of this. So I bought a mask and tube and bring that with me. I’m ensured of a good fit every time. But usually, we book an excursion. Often the very best snorkeling is out a bit from shore so having a boat take you out is easiest. The only exception to this is Grand Cayman, where you can taxi or bus to Cemetery Beach and have amazing snorkeling right from the shore with no crowds.

It may depend on the ship, but currently on Serenade it is table service only.

Hi! Welcome to the forums! Yes, the app is confusing about the MDR. You don’t have to worry. Late seating is on Deck 4 of the MDR. I believe it is broken up in the app so that it can show the different times available for unvaccinated folks. Let me know if you have any other questions and I either answer or go find out!

The Izumi menu has a lot of non-sushi items on it too, like karaage (chicken nuggets) and gyoza (pot stickers). He might find plenty to eat on the ala carte menu!

Hopefully restrictions will be lessened soon. Or there will be fewer higher level C&A passengers on your sailings!

Day 5 - At Sea One of my most favorite things about Radiance-class ships is the Viking Crown lounge on Deck 13. That the Suite Lounge and the Diamond Lounge are also up in that space on Serenade is an added bonus. The first night, we headed up to the Suite Lounge and saw a big “Private Event” sign on the Viking Crown. Oh, OK, that happens sometimes, no worries. The second night, the same sign was in place. I got suspicious. I asked the nice woman at the door when will the Viking Crown be open and she said it wouldn’t. Whaaaaaat? Nonono! I think she might have seen my panic, because she quickly asked if I was Diamond, Diamond Plus, or Pinnacle. Turns out, the whole Viking Crown has been turned into the Diamond Club for this trip. Whew! I can still sit up there and enjoy the great view! However, if we weren’t Diamond (oh hey, we actually turned Diamond Plus today! Yay us!) I would have been crushed not to be able to use this space, so I feel a little bad about that. It also means that MomMe can’t join us there Here’s the Suite Lounge: The outdoor space is especially nice. Here’s the Viking Crown/Diamond Lounge: What used to be the Diamond Club is now the Pinnacle Club, at least for this cruise: I’m super bummed I didn’t get a picture of the sign the first day — It was a hand-written “Pinnacle Club Only” piece of scratch paper slapped up over the Diamond Club sign, not completely covering it. They quickly fixed it, but I thought it was quite funny. I’ll be curious to see if the Pinnacle Club thing sticks around after Covid protocols are loosened. Sorry the lighting is so wonky on these shots.

I never imagined I would get involved in the Filet Wars, and yet here I am… I have had filet in the MDR, Chops, Giovanni’s, and Asia’s equivalent of CK, the Golden Dining room, on a variety of ships. The best filet is at Chef’s Table on Serenade. Fight me. This was our first time trying Chef’s Table. Current protocols limit the attendance to 8; we had 6. We were inadvertently smart, booking it on a night before a sea day — I think I would not have enjoyed a morning shore excursion very much The aperitif, some sort of bubbly Elderflower mint concoction: Scallop Carpaccio: Smoked Tomato Soup, pre and post combination. It also required stirring to blend all the ingredients, so I’m going to say that I assisted in the preparation of this excellent soup! And then, unfortunately, came the third glass of wine. Only unfortunate for you, Gentle Readers — I failed to take pictures of the next two courses Both the Maine Lobster Salad and the Roasted Branzino were delicious and I apologize for my shortcomings as a blogger! Then, the filet. Could not have been better! I ate the whole thing even though I was stuffed already! There was some sauce added after the photo was taken. The dessert was The World. Very, very rich! It came with an espresso martini. I was very pleased with the whole experience. We had fun companions, a good waiter, and a charismatic chef. One couple had eaten at Chef’s Table a dozen or so times and said that it was always just a bit different as each chef put their own mark on it. Kenneth redeemed himself tonight:

Day 4 - Puerto Vallarta We were trying to decide when we had last been to PV. Best we could come up with was “earlier than 2000”. It has changed since then We didn’t plan an excursion because none of the options appealed, but we wanted to explore the port area a bit and put a few dollars in the local economy. And by “we” I mean MomMe and me — MisterZ decided it was “too freakin’ hot”. (He was not actually wrong.) We disembarked on Deck 2 and were then directed to “exit through the gift shop”, otherwise known as Puerto Magico. It’s a big facility with duty free shopping, coffee shops, artisans, photo ops, and various tour operators stumping for clients. The taxi drivers and tour guides in this area and just outside are licensed and all wear government IDs so you can feel pretty confident they will take good care of you. We turned right out of the port and walked to a free local beach. I wouldn’t maybe get in the water there in the middle of town, but there was sun and sand and beer vendors. We saw a lot of local Mexican tourists heading this way; both PV and Mazatlan have historically been internal vacation destinations which is likely why the city didn’t seem as hard hit as I feared, economy-wise. We stopped at a local pharmacy and bought a pile of consumables to give to the crew — toothpaste, Tylenol, tums, that sort of thing. They were very appreciative, since they are not allowed off the ship in Mexico. Here’s the view from our balcony while docked: The Noordam seems to be in cold layup here. There were some crew, but very little activity. We were invited to a sailaway party on the helipad: It was hot, as you can imagine, but as we backed out of port we were able to keep to the shade cast by the ship pretty well. It was a fun perspective — made it feel like we were on a much smaller ship.

Mine came 5 days prior to sailing this time around. I think there are a lot of moving parts right now.

We have had phenomenal seas so far. Seriously like glass: And some lovely sunrises: One of my very favorite things is the days being noted on the elevators. I hope this tradition never goes away! A great thing about Radiance-class ships is all the glass. Here is Vintages: And here is the view from Vintages seating: (Window could be cleaner. Sorry.) Day 3 ended with Main Dining room delivery to our balcony again. Chicken Parmesan and Braised Beef Ribs: No towel art tonight. Kenneth is in big trouble!

It was in the app, but showed up much later than the rest of check in. Just keep looking!

We used an iPad, and one of us held it for the other so our hands were free. It’s a little hard to show the proctor everything they need to see.

We got our second crystal block on this trip Hooray! They are super hard to photograph Grr!

The gym on Serenade takes up prime real estate at the bow on Deck 12. It’s also about the same size as the gym on Spectrum, with only about 40% of the passenger capacity. A statement on how cruising has changed in the last 25 years!

Sometimes two!!

I can confirm that currently on Serenade the policy is reservations, but the practice is you can go whenever you want and that a crew member monitors capacity. We’re at about 27% capacity so there has yet to be more than 2 other people when I’ve been there.

Day 3 - At Sea We moved the ship clock ahead again today, for the second time. These first two nights have been short! Here are some random shots of the assorted Covid protocol signs. Also, Royal seems to have been insistent with the crew that they take care of themselves first. For example, the seats at the bars are closed to reduce prolonged exposure, and anyone who works at a desk is encouraged to come out and speak with guests in more open spaces. Company policy mentions “be sure you are comfortable with your own health and safety first”. The crew seems to really appreciate how Royal is handling the whole thing. Door magnets on Day 1: Here’s the note about scheduling the mid-voyage test for unvaccinated folks. It was oddly worded because this was the first sailing long enough to require the mid-voyage test. They used the end-of-trip template, causing some confusion. Visiting the scheduling desk cleared that up. There are two chunks of cabins blocked off, one set on Deck 4 and one set on Deck 9. Haven’t figured out the Deck 4 ones yet, but Deck 9 is what the crew calls The Ward. It’s where the new crew coming onboard quarantines for two weeks before starting work. Mostly using the balcony cabins, some of the crew have spoken fondly of the time, sleeping all day, watching TV, getting meals delivered. “Sometimes I wish I was back in The Ward!”

MisterZ’s absolute favorite thing about being in a full suite is the free room service, including the Main Dining menu. His Day 2 breakfast: And as promised, here’s the photo tour of MomMe’s cabin, a connecting balcony, 1510: She says the cabin is a fantastic size for a single. This particular one has a maximum occupancy of three — you can see the single hide-a-bed. It would be a tight fit for three. I asked her to pay attention to any noise bleed from the connecting door, but it turns out that cabin is empty so we won’t be able to add any data to the hive mind on that Day 2 ended with room service dinner on our balcony. I failed to take any pictures. I know. I’m fired.

Day 2 - At Sea I do enjoy the sea days. We’ll see if I still feel that way after essentially 10 days at sea on this trip I am planning to document a lot of the ship, as a bit of a marketing for these “smaller” ships. I really enjoy them and think they get overlooked by a lot of people. The Centrum from Deck 6: The Centrum from Deck 10: Entrance to the Schooner Bar. I like the old school nautical theme: Adjacent to the Schooner Bar is both Chops and Giovanni’s, and they have similar decor: Safari Club (past the Schooner Bar. Also has Next Cruise and the Loyalty Desk): Great views and comfortable seats: Self-leveling pool tables!

Sail away was supposed to happen at 5p, but we didn’t leave until nearly 6p. Drinks in the Suite Lounge before dinner. The Lounge on Serenade is on desk 13, next to the Viking Crown. It has both indoor and outdoor space.(Interestingly they are definitely rebranding the Concierge Lounge, even if the product is a bit different from the bigger ships): We were already at dinner as we exited the Port, so this is the only photo I got, through the window of Giovanni’s: Bye, LA! Our first towel art:

Hi, everybody!

Correct. US will accept vaccinations from both CDC-approved and WHO-approved lists. The only large group that is out of luck right now is the people who have received Sputnik V.