foxrunner

When I consider our last cruise this past Dec. I'm glad that we tried out Specialty Dinning at Hibachi and Giovanni's. We also had a excellent experience in the MDR. The MDR food is great but not atypical of a good local restaurant. What I mean by this is that the presentation and sauces are good but not exceptional and the dishes are not creative or unusual. To find that next level dinning experience the Specialties bring that. At home we might eat out once a week, and select restaurants that serve MDR fair. A few times a year we will splurge and eat at a Specialty level local restaurant. I don't always want the pomp and ceremony of these high end restaurants and can't afford it anyway. We have close friends that are foodies and are in the Double Income No Kids club. If we ever cruised with them the MDR wouldn't be creative enough for them. They would eat Specialty every night. I also hate to pay extra for something that is quite good and included in your cruise. Cruising isn't cheap, especially if your vacation time is limited to the school calendar. Think of it this way that Special Dining cash could help pay for your next vacation or an excursion.

I asked at the dive shack about the plane and was told that it had been removed. I'm not sure if they told me that because it is gone or they didn't want me to find it. We were on Coco Cay Dec 30, 2019.

Wish that was true last Black Friday. It does vary based on your sailing so our experience could be completely different than yours.

Or is that the clients on Oasis class ships are how can I say this nicely............. particular. We have only sailed on the Allure and found the staff excellent, and the food outstanding. We did dine at Giovanni's Table and outside of the mussels, which in all fairness the waiter warned us not to order, it was amazing. We had a great experience at Hibachi as well. As good as those two specialty restaurants are I'm not sure they are worth the up charge. Food as many have noted is a subjective topic.

Great news about the casino! Wish Royal would limit smoking to outdoors only. Noticed that you are pretty loyal to Allure, why is that? We will give Harmony a try, and thanks.

+1

We are flying from Providence or Boston. Hoping that Orlando flights are less expensive than Miami. Why do you like Harmony? I wish Indy had a 7 night cruise.

Thank you! Would you pick Harmony because of the price, port, or ship?

Shoe caddies at the slide entrance are free of charge. In Dec the pathways were not too hot, but I'm not sure when your visiting.

Looking at these two vessels for our next cruise. The itineraries are the same Western Caribbean. Allure sails out of Miami and Harmony from Port Canaveral. Harmony is about $200 per person less, and we are four. We were on Allure this year before amplification. We have very limited travel time options so another ship or date will not work. We could do a Five night on Independence out of Ft. Lauderdale, but prefer a 7 night cruise. The Indy cruise is half the cost of the Oasis class cruises. Itinerary for Indy is Cozumel and Grand Cayman. Thoughts?

I owned a VW Thing 1974 in college. Great car based on the Bug platform. Wish I still had it!

No food restrictions, although I do eat too much. Thanks!

We received as well as half the world a mailing from Viking Cruise line advertising European river cruises. This got me thinking if I'd want to RCL Med Sea cruise, river cruise, or do a land vacation as a way to see Europe. My wife went to Spain in high school and I've never been. It would most likely be the two of us as the lads are both in College next year.? So the question is does anyone have input on how to best take a European vacation. We are history buffs and walk many miles a day, so were active and like physicality. A bike tour would also be considered. Thanks!

+1 Almost everything especially the seafood dishes. We live on the coast and know what fresh properly prepared seafood is like.

The Margarita is spicy which I crave. Not stupid but nice heat. We took the Sushi Class and it was a blast. My wife and two sons wanted to do it and I was like OK. Couldn't have been more wrong. I'm now a Sushi eater and roller. It does cost $35 each but I couldn't finish all the Sushi we made. Many informed guests skipped breakfast in preparation, we skipped lunch. We also went to Hibachi another up-charge, and my oldest son who is a bit of a hibachi connoisseur said it was the best tasting and show he has ever seen.

We found the 8:00PM TD not to be too late. We asked for a four top for our family and were given one no problem. We also witnessed plenty of 2 tops as well as blended tables. @Mrs. Thomas if you worried about your son ask for an outside table. Some of the tables even have these really high backed chairs that envelop you, sorry no picture. We never did MTD but I feel like the tables are a little bit more spread out at Traditional dining.

Izumis sushi! Cucumber Jalapeno Margarita in Sabor

It is very considerate of you to not want to overburden the wait staff. Please remember that the staff derives pleasure from getting you what you want within reason. If everyone comes in and orders the same thing and they can't have a conversation about what you liked and what wasn't in your wheelhouse, that is a long boring night. Talk about what they like on the menu and be sure to try the recommendations. The best part about traditional dining is that you get to know your wait staff. I don't think I'd want to try MTD for that reason.

Often we would order multiples and ask for the extra one be "for the table". That way everyone could try it. It is challenging to the staff when you request 1/2 portions as the food is prepared in mass and that gets confusing. It is never a problem to ask for the item to be prepared as you like it. I would urge you to be daring and try new dishes on your cruise, as they are often surprisingly good. My last piece of advice is to avoid the "clean plate club". Your much better of having a taste or two and leaving anything you don't like alone. I know it is wasteful but your waistline will thank you.

I also tip and be sure to have a conversation with the tenders at my favorite watering holes. I found the drinks to be properly prepared, meaning if it called for a shot it was a measured shot, no more no less. To me with the DBP that is what I want. I can always have another. On the beer front I found Royals craft beer game to be quite weak. They ran out of the better craft offerings before we embarked or at about midcruise. Sierra Nevada became my go to brew. An excellent choice but not really craft beer. They didn't have S. Nevada at every bar though.

We are particular about our tea. At home we drink Williamson, Republic of Tea, and Yorkshire Gold to name a few. The standard tea was solid on Allure. We drink mainly British Breakfast and an occasional green tea. The problem is I didn't pay attention to the name of the tea served and I've never seen it for sale in the USA. We did have the DBP and could have found premium teas but the standard stuff was readily available in the Windjammer, Main Dining Room,and Specialty Dining so we ordered and enjoyed it.

My unscientific polling says that Royal Car/blog members are smarter than your average bear, with finish times well under the expected average.

Right off the Chill beach. They rent masks and snorkels and fins. If you are a strong swimmer just bring your mask and don't bother with the fins. You could rent the fins as they take up a lot of packing room. The snorkel rental shack will tell you to watch a completely uninformative video if you ask about the best location to see stuff. They also told me the sunken plane was removed. I didn't see it as I wasn't sure that they weren't snowing me.

The waterpark is excellent if that is your thing. The free snorkeling is pretty average but great if you have never snorkeled. The swim up bar is fun for a spin and then we needed to move on. We had a great dare I say perfect day @.........

We my wife and two sons had the key on Allure over New Years this year. The Key is worth it if you are going to use all of the aspects of the program listed below. 1 You are going to purchase WiFi and use it. 2 You are going to go to the shows and get the reserved seats which are very good. 3 You are going to attend the Key only times for Flowrider, Rock Climbing and Zipline. 4 Priority embarkation and debarkation is important to you. 5 You want the Chops lunch and special final breakfast. For us because we checked all of the above boxes it was worth it. If I had a tight return flight schedule and nothing else on the list above appealed to you it could be worth it. If you have a high level Crown& Anchor status it is also probably not worth it.