Curt From Canada
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Posts posted by Curt From Canada
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5 hours ago, BarbieBell said:
I was recently diagnosed with Celiac (yeah, who knew seniors would develop it) but I’ve only been able to get a little info about the options or procedures onboard. I filled out the form Royal provided and was told to tell the waiters of my allergies when dining. I was just wondering if anyone could offer any suggestions or share experiences regarding this subject. I’m a bit nervous about not having control and preparing my own food. I’m taking a few gluten free things with me but welcome any suggestions.
Quick response, as I have an early morning tomorrow.
I have a gluten intolerance (probably not Celiac … long story). Still, since 2013, I have eaten gluten free on Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Briefly:
There are only two places in the world I feel safe eating. At home, my soulmate cooks with the utmost care. There is never a concern. The other place is on a cruise ship. They have multiple food allergy issues every single week. They are experts at handling them. A few critical things to do:
1). The Main Dining Room [MDR] wait staff is excellent. Tell (remind) them on night 1 that you are Celiac. They will help you each night to choose the next night’s meal (they will make sure night 1 is OK as well).
2). Ask them about breakfast and lunch for the next day … they can help with that as well.
3). The WindJammer should be a nightmare (but it is not). Tell any of the food servers that you are Celiac (you may have to say gluten free … not wheat) and they will have someone walk you through each station indicating what you can have or not have. The MDR is still safer, but I have used the WindJammer from time to time. It takes more time, but they are very knowledgeable and detailed.
4). Specialty Dining: Same as MDR. Just let the waitstaff know and they will make sure the meals are adapted as required.
5). There is a way to get this on your file. Someone else can help with that special service request. I used to do it, but found I had to do points 1) to 4) above anyway, so I stopped with this detail. In this case, I think you should “do as I say and not as I do”. Get it in your file for each cruise.
I hope that made sense and was helpfulCurt from Canada
- WAAAYTOOO and BarbieBell
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1 hour ago, WAAAYTOOO said:
Back to the Crown Lounge discussion…
Some photos below (with permission from the folks in the room). Yes, the CL Concierge is Vanessa. Lovely lady.
Like @JustMeJoe, I am tiring of the CL/CL confusion and writing out “Concierge” every time is tedious, so, heretoforth, I will refer to the Concierge Lounge as the Suites Lounge (SL). When you see CL, I am talking about the Crown Lounge. Ugh
It seems that most of the Pinns are doing the same thing we are - going to the CL vs the SL. I guess the only unfortunates that are doomed to the SL dungeon are the Suites who are not yet Diamond or above.
They have removed the once-present computers from the CL. To make more seating available ? Who knows. I am using the computer area on deck 8, which is a mere few steps from our room and it’s very convenient. I guess now is the time to mention that the Internet has been awesome so far.
The exact same thing happened in the CL versus the SL on Serenade World Cruise. All the Pinns were in the CL and the SL was empty.
We find the CL attached to the “Viking Crown Lounge” to be the best combination for the CL.
Thanks for all the pictures …
Curt from Canada
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3 hours ago, CrimsonCruiser said:
1 - There was scheduling?! I guess that makes sense considering how many people would be trying to use it at any given time but wow that seems like a bit of a hassle....
3 - so glad to hear the food was changed up and delicious. I definitely did think they would have to switch up the menus (one can only have so much "royal night" lol) and it sounds like they planned ahead based on the stops.
It never dawned on me that there would be laundry facilities on more than the lower decks. I know I've seen the rooms filled with towels and sheets up on deck 10, but I just assumed they were staging areas to fill the carts....now I wonder if they machines in there....
Good to know about the contracts. It would have been a more interesting social experiment to see how the crew got on if they were stuck with the same people for 9 straight months!
1). I believe they had to book times and stick to those times. If the ship was filled with World Cruisers (2,400ish instead of 700) there may have been massive issues that they would have solved with the large ship laundry services.
3). I fear I have misled. Not all food was delicious. It was typical RCL “hit and miss”, some details (all MDR and Specialty … we do not eat in the Windjammer
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Breakfast: It is hard to mess up breakfast. Everything was good. Nothing spectacular, just good.
Lunch: This was the miss. A big miss. By the end of the cruise we would have the soup and grab a mediocre sandwich somewhere else. There was nothing in the MDR for lunch that was good. On bigger ships there are tons of options (other than the MDR) for lunch. Not on Radiance Class ships (full disclosure we love this class of ship. Radiance Class sea views more than make up for this shortfall … especially in Antarctica).
Supper: Meals had some excellent successes (the Filet and a Thai Chicken special were the best at sea that we remember). Other than that, good consistent food with variety over the entire 18 days
Specially: Was just like other cruises. Chops was Chops and it was good. Giovani’s was OK, but did serve a very memorable risotto. It was too much, so we told the waiter to hold the potatoe dishes (still to come) and leave the risotto. It was very special.
Curt from Canada
- WAAAYTOOO and CrimsonCruiser
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38 minutes ago, CrimsonCruiser said:
So now that the rabid interest in the world cruise has calmed down, I'm curious about some things and wonder if anyone knows or can guess on them:
Passenger laundry facilities: it came to my attention that Serenade offers coin laundry facilities for passengers on the world cruise (not sure if for all passengers or just people doing the whole length) and I wonder how this came about. Obviously, we all know that the only non-industrial laundry on board is in the crew area for the crew. If passengers are using this does this mean crew have to compete with passengers for limited space? Did Royal build a second laundry area for passengers? did the crew one become a passenger one and the crew was given free pick-up drop off laundry?
Crew contracts: 9-months is a pretty typical crew contract so I'm curious if Royal brought on new contracts specifically for this sailing or if they are still switching people in and out like normal.
Food, water and gas: on a standard week long cruise, the ship is stocked on turn around day. but even the segments are in 3 month periods...so when and where are they stocking up on food, water and gas, and where are they dumping the black and brown water that can't be flushed back into the ocean?
These questions have been bopping around in my head since day one and I was hoping the algorithm on TikTok would have brought me to a crew member who could answer...but it hasn't so now you guys get to deal with it lol.
Bonus question: I have family on an Oceania world cruise right now, and she mentioned that, as the ship diverts to avoid war areas and piracy, they have a couple days where the passengers are asked to conserve water and some foodstuffs until the ship can restock (limiting showers, not as robust menus). Now obviously Serenade is bigger than any Oceania ship but, also curious if anyone has heard of Serenade doing the same?
My soulmate and I were on the Antarctic leg of this cruise in January. It was definitely a Royal Caribbean style cruise, but with quite a few differences that made for an even better experience. First your questions:
1). Laundry: Only World Cruisers have access and it was a special (very small) area that was created just for them. It did not cause any confrontations
, but the scheduling of time in there was an ongoing “process” each week. I do not know the details, but the World Cruisers (and Royal Caribbean) needed to be totally organized to make the scheduling work.
2). Crew Contracts: They seemed to be just like regular cruises. Crew rotates in and out on normal schedules. Our favourite bartender was going to rotate out and then get back on to Serenade for the last few legs of the World Cruise. One of the senior Food & Beverage Mgrs rotated out just after our leg and should be back on the ship soon. Staggered rotations for everyone (as usual).
3). Provisioning & Port Issues: This is a great question. I did not sense any issues at all, but I did sense a big advantage … variety. The food varied noticeably as we moved from one region to the next. I had the best Filet Mignon at sea while docked (for two days) in Buenos Aires AND I was in the MDR. The entertainment was much more varied and plentiful. More variety of enrichment lecturers and topics. More variety of climates (93+ deg down to 30ish)We seriously looked at another leg, but could not make the timing work. We could never be away for the entire cruise, but would look at other interesting legs if they ever do again.
Curt from Canada -
3 hours ago, TXCoastPatriot said:
Does Royal still hold “Egg Drop” and “Paper Airplane” competitions in the Centrum?
Yes … they had both on the second leg of the Ultimate World Cruise (Serenade of the Seas).
Curt from Canada
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Excellent summary … thank you. I am afraid you may know what I am going to ask:
This is a real long shot, and from pictures we have seen it appears the venue is not set up for it. Still, just to make sure:
Is dancing in the “2 Pianos Venue” encouraged, discouraged, not possible?
Our minimum is a 12 ft by 12 ft “solid surface” (no carpet) … but we have danced in our small kitchen 8 ft by 8 ft (at the cottage).
Any thoughts, would be greatly appreciated …
Curt from Canada (and my “happy feet” Soulmate)
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4 hours ago, TheMaxRebo said:
so prior to this question, I hadn't even considered this, but thinking about it, I really don't think it would work logistically to dance during the event.
There really isn't room and the food and cocktails are coming out at a pretty regular clip, and many, many servers moving around, etc.
They didn't ever explicitly say you cannot dance but also didn't invite it and didn't see anyone try. The vibe they are going for is "speakeasy" and they "lock" the doors and you have to be escorted by someone to a back "secret" door to get to a bathroom, so I think it really is more about the food and cocktails and the music to enhance that vs a dancing situation.
Probably not response you were hoping for. There is a separate Jazz club in Central Park and still Baleros which has room for dancing, just don't think this is the venue for it, at least based on our experience
Thank you … we were expecting your feedback, we just needed to confirm.
I have never been in a “speakeasy”. Still, I had imagined there was almost as much dancing as drinking
.
Typically, we “adapt” quite nicely to the ship we are on. We have danced in all the “regular” spots plus:
Schooner Bar (too many to count), many Elevator lobbies, 2 Elevators (once with the Stowaway Piano Player), 3 times on the MainStage (plus twice at the back of the Theatre), in the MDR, and Central Park (a lot).
Say hello sometime, when you see two amateur dancers dancing where they shouldn’t be and having a blast.
Curt from Canada
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This is a real long shot, and from pictures we have seen it appears the venue is not set up for it. Still, just to make sure:
Is dancing encouraged, discouraged, not possible?
We are very prejudiced with this question as we love to dance and an Empire Supper Club “screams” dancing to us. I am sure we would enjoy the meal and cocktails, but a great band would seem like terrible a waste to us.
Any thoughts, would be greatly appreciated …
Curt from Canada (and my “happy feet” Soulmate)
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On 2/13/2024 at 10:37 AM, Cakemeister said:
Please post more about the food!
Going on a world cruise is number one on my bucket list and I'd love to know more about the food and entertainment.
The Ultimate World Cruise seems to be going a little bit above what a normal cruise offers when it comes to food in the MDR. We had that amazing Thai Shrimp dish one night and I had the best Filet at sea on day 1 (of the second leg) in Buenos Aires. After that dinners and breakfasts in the MDR were good to “OK” for the rest of the 18 day Antarctica leg.
However, except for the two amazing dishes, the food was as per usual (nothing bad … nothing great). A typical Royal MDR experience.
One major disappointment was lunch. We are not WindJammer people. In addition, the cafe in the solarium was not good at all. We tried the MDR for lunch many times and it always disappointed … nothing was very good at all. By the end of the cruise, we had soup for lunch in the MDR and tried to pick up a sandwich somewhere. Very disappointing.
For entertainment, nothing can compare to the experiences we have had on Oasis class ships. However, the UWC is trying extremely hard in the entertainment area. They have 5 excellent principle singer/performers (you usually have 1 or 2 on a Radiance class ship), 2 excellent principle dancers and a 9 piece orchestra (I think the norm is 7). One night they flexed the orchestra up to an 11 piece. For a formal party in the Centrum one night they had a 7 piece orchestra on the very small stage. Big, excellent sound in the theatre and Centrum.
They also seemed to have many more bands around the ship than normal. All of them were excellent. On sea days, the Centrum had music from just after lunch until late in the evening.
Headliners were skewed to the culture of the part of the world you were in at the time. We love to dance, so we still enjoyed the 3rd Tango group as we sailed through Argentina. Still, we understand that might have been too much for some people. Given how strong the Royal singers, dancers and orchestra was we can only remember one bad performance in the main theatre in 18 nights.
The Love & Marriage Show had the oldest newlywed couple ever. Going in we thought the show might skew older. It definitely didn’t disappoint.
Lastly, there was an effort to have much more going on during the day than on a regular cruise. More enrichment lectures, more trivia, more dance classes, more movies … everything seemed to be intentionally just a little bit more.
Curt from Canada
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We have never seen a reservation system for dance classes on a ship (and my soulmate and I “chase” any lessons offered all over the ship). They are typically offered by a couple of the principle dancers on the cruise on sea days. The best way to find them is to:
- Look on Cruise Compasses from previous cruises (the closer to your sailing as possible) to determine possible dates and times. We have found (in the past) that just before or after lunch is a popular time.
- Study the cruise compass the day before to find the classes that are offered.
- We do find that the smaller ships have greater opportunities, but we have had classes on most ships.
The pace of the lessons are good (maybe a little fast for beginners), but they are fun and the instructors have always been excellent.
Curt from Canada
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Trying to get caught up and then wrap up this terribly disjointed Antarctica recap. Remember we were on the Ultimate World Cruise (freeloader edition) … the price will forever be held as a secret.
Ushuaia was our next spot and it was another highlight.
Spending two days at « Fin del Mundo » (End of the World) was not enough. The overnight was great, but we could have spent another day or two there. It had a lot of things to do and not enough time to do them all.
We did not do our homework on Ushuaia. I assumed it would be a sleepy little town that was the jumping off point for many Antarctica cruises. It definitely was the start for many cruise ships (we saw 7 different expedition ships) using the port in the 2 days we were there. However, there were other things to like about the port:
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Since it is in the Beagle Channel you can do lots of exploration by catamaran (and there are lots of them). We explored the lighthouse, National Park, some wildlife hangouts (cormorants, sea lions, albatross, penguins, etc) and a number of « End of the World » sites .
- The penguins sanctuary was particularly interesting. The catamaran beached within feet of the penguins. We could not get off the vessel, but the penguins were very close and easy to see.
- We only saw a fraction of the National park. Given how different the topography was, more time was definitely required.
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Given how many places claimed to be the « End of the World », we were unsure when we were actually there. However, I think we were well covered with 3 sites we visited .
- Both tours took 7 hours, so we did not see the town at all. Like I said, 1 or 2 more days would be required.
Sail away through the Beagle channel was spectacular. We saw glaciers during sail away and the next day as well.
There are very few glaciers that come close to the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska. We have seen it twice and it is a must see. We have also flown on to the Mendenhall Glacier and drank from the crystal clear waters. Still, southern Argentina and Chile have some of the most beautiful glaciers we have ever seen. Even more amazing was the sheer number of them. Glacier, after glacier … after glacier. Many more seen in 2 days than the 15 days we spent cruising in Alaska. I will try to post some pictures when I get on to the big computer. Glacier watching at “Fin del Mundo” was spectacular. If you get the chance do not miss this.
Just a few more sea days to get caught up on, before I wrap up.
Curt from Canada
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Since it is in the Beagle Channel you can do lots of exploration by catamaran (and there are lots of them). We explored the lighthouse, National Park, some wildlife hangouts (cormorants, sea lions, albatross, penguins, etc) and a number of « End of the World » sites
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38 minutes ago, Curt From Canada said:
Sorry everyone … the numbers for Icon were mind boggling (so I had to get out my slide rule). For the teachers out there, I can show my calculations, but quickly:
Diamond and above percent of cruisers:
Icon of the Seas JAN 27 to FEB 03: 31%
Serenade of the Seas JAN 05 to 23: 46%
Curt from Canada
Revised numbers based on a new Icon total of 5,500 (I hope I get partial marks from the teachers out there … it is literally the only way I graduated
):
ICON 34%
SERENADE: 46%
Curt from Canada
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Sorry everyone … the numbers for Icon were mind boggling (so I had to get out my slide rule). For the teachers out there, I can show my calculations, but quickly:
Diamond and above percent of cruisers:
Icon of the Seas JAN 27 to FEB 03: 31%
Serenade of the Seas JAN 05 to 23: 46%
Curt from Canada
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23 minutes ago, Lovetocruise2002 said:
More Diamonds and above than the number of passengers on the entire second leg of the UWC (we were told around 1,600 on Serenade). I hope the Crown lounge is the size on 3 Quantum style music Halls
Curt from Canada
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On 1/19/2024 at 11:12 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:
So NO Pinns are allowed in the Concierge Lounge (why in the WORLD have they not renamed this venue the Suites Lounge ?!?) - regardless of whether they are on the full voyage or how many C&A points they have ?
Update from the investigating done during the 18 segement:
1). UWC Pinns can use the Concierge Lounge anytime. It still looks virtually empty every time I am on the way to the Crown Lounge. I think I saw 5-7 people once. All the other times … empty
2). Regular “normal” Pinns are in the Crown Lounge. Once you meet them they are a blast. Obviously the Crown Lounge opened up into the Viking Crown Lounge is the place to be. Still, if there was no voucher system it would not work.
Curt from Canada
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6 hours ago, SweetPea said:
I have to admit (embarrassingly so) that the "9 month cruise drama" currently popular on social media has taken up about 17% of my free time for the past couple of weeks. It's like a train wreck that i cannot bring myself to stop watching!
You'd never know you were on the same cruise as these people.
I feel like i should start commenting on their posts with the link to your blog. That would be fun (for me).
Thanks for your sane blog. Looking forward to the rest!
Also, did you guys take dance lessons?
I am way behind on updates. We are home (but getting to and from South America was incredibly exhausting). I am missing updates on the last 6 days. Sometime this week I will put a “bow” on the updates and be able to answer any questions retrospectively.
However, your two questions are excellent ones … quickly (oops, I just saw how non-quickly the thoughts are below):
Social Media:
The majority of the social media folks are really doing a “job”. We did not notice them everyday, but when we came across them they were in one of two modes … Planning their next “shoot” or in the middle of their “shoot”. I am sure they were having fun, (and potentially writing off the cruise as an expense
), but they were at work. For a number of them it seemed to be their job. We also did not see the work that has to go into “post production”. Unless the “camera was on” they were just normal people. They did tend to spend a lot of time together, but I like spending time with Engineers, Teachers, Medical Professionals, and Executives … so I think we are normally attracted to people who share our passions (sorry for the tangent ).
i have seen some of their material pre-cruise as a part of studying for cruise. We are experienced cruisers, but we knew the UWC would be different. With a few exceptions, they are like a “Friends” episode. I enjoyed watching Friends when I was younger (the versions I watched were not recorded
). It was entertainment that I knew was not real, but acted, written and directed by some very talented people. So (for the most part), the social media material is not real, not well acted/written/directed, and totally devoid of the smallest amount of “depth” that shows like Friends explored. Still, there is something comforting about a blended Scotch by a fire (rather than the 15 year old MacAllan that I really, really want ). Social media is what it is … a diversion.
However, to be clear, it is not a very accurate representation of the Buenos Aires to Santiago leg. We were never even close to being in danger at sea. Some of the food was good, but some was not good at all (hit & miss as usual). The dance floor in the videos was rarely the dance floor we were on (they seemed to wait until everyone had left to get their “footage” … which was nice, I guess).
However, some them are capturing the exceptional beauty we saw (I still think @twangster does it much better).
I have tried to describe the experience for those who are interested (and to what I consider a very sophisticated cruising audience). I hope I can wrap that up soon.
Maybe don’t send them the link … I am not sure I want to end up in their next episode … “Canadians are mean”
Dancing:
”Hello, I’m Curt from Canada and I’m a Dance-aholic”.
We only ended up getting to 2 classes (I think they had 6 in total on this leg). Experienced cruisers know how busy it is (even on sea days) and we had multiple conflicts.
However, there was a lot of dance music in the Centrum (with a very spacious floor). The Caribbean Duo transformed into a 50s, 60s, 70s group as they crossed the equator. They were lots of fun. There was even a chance to dance in the Schooner Bar (try to find that dance floor
) and the colony club. Lastly, we were invited on stage (with others) to dance with the Tango group that were the Headliners that night. We did not mess up, so that was a relief.
We had lots of opportunities to Foxtrot, Rumba and Swing our way around the ship.
More to come …
Curt from Canada
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We had a very calm night, with just a slight roll, has this has led to an excellent nights sleep.
Today we treated ourselves to the “Taste of Royal”. It was good (some of the dishes were excellent). We chose not to take the wine pairing. 5 drinks each per day is more than enough.
We met Captain Stig on our morning walk. He had come out on deck to check that the weather was as good as it appeared on the bridge instruments. It was very overcast, but very little wind and hardly any waves. I guess we finally got our “Drake Lake”. He liked my jacket I got in Norway at the Northern Cape (71 deg N) … thé town of Honningsvag is close to his home town in Norway. The captain was very surprised at the calm seas. He said it will be overcast, but a good opportunity to see the Cape.
Cape Horn was very nice. It was as calm as predicted and very easy to see the lighthouse and the monument. We did get there early … allowing us to have a nap before dancing, dinner and the show.
If you are sailing East to West to view Cape Horn, consider a port balcony. The Schooner Bar is an excellent Starboard side viewing location (that not too many people use). Instead of running between the port and starboard sides on Deck 11 and 12, we ran between our room, the Schooner Bar, and back to our room. We hope our Canadian passports are not revoked due to us avoiding the cold and damp weather we were born into.
Curt from Canada
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JAN 15
The Piano Man Show was slightly better than Radiance in May due to the strength of 5 excellent voices. The Piano Man was just as we remembered. A ton of fun. The orchestra continues to impress. They have done a very good job of recruiting the talent for this cruise.
The “Caribbean” band continues to be the furthest thing from the Caribbean. 50s, 60s and 70s standards (they know their audience). We got in a good number of foxtrots, a couple of rumbas and a swing number before having to go to dinner.
Tomorrow is Cape Horn. We will easily make it there before 6PM planned arrival. The captain thinks it could be as early as 2PM. This will be our third visit to the Drake Passage. No hints yet as to what we will get.
Curt from Canada
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JAN 15
Sea days are a lot busier than we remember. Mostly, because there:
- Is much more live music around the ship as is normal. On sea days music will start in the Centrum just after noon and go through until late in the evening
- Are many more Enrichment Lectures than usual
- Are many more dance class and exercise classes
- Are not too many theatre shows we want to skip. Most have been very good
Last night was Big Band Penguin Party night. The orchestra is perfect for that big band sound. We can not remember an on ship orchestra having 5 brass pieces. The sound in Centrum was big and the dance floor was over flowing. Lots of “penguins” on display (very funny penguins, but not necessarily the cute cuddly kind
).
The theatre show was the exact Tango show that was on Radiance in May. It was great in May and great again. We can not get enough Tango, but understand how a third tango show in 11 days might be a little too much for some.
Tonight is Piano Man (another show “borrowed” directly from the May cruise we took on Radiance). The lead vocalist is the same one from May and has hired on as a principle singer (1 of 5). It is unclear how many segments the 5 singer’s contract are. We loved Piano Man in May, so we will be early to the theatre tonight.
We will miss the Falkland Island port today (high winds have ruled out the tendering process that is required for Port Stanley). Disappointing, but par for the course in this part of the world. We hope to get an afternoon nap as consolation. We are exhausted.
Curt from Canada
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There are a number of little things (that are adding up) that they did for the UWC that were noticeable. In no particular order:
- New bedding.
- New linens.
- New bathrobes.
- An under closet night light that is on a motion sensor (I do not remember these on a Radiance class ship before).
- An in cabin refrigerator that works (it appears to have very low fridge type temperatures).
- A balcony door that works extremely well. Last cruise (on Oasis) it almost took two people to open and close. This balcony door requires 1 finger to easily open or close.
- New glassware (at least for martini glasses) … how we know they are new is the funny part.
- New library … stocked full of books.
I am certain all of these improvements will not be as noticeable in 3-4 months, but for now it is difficult to miss.
Curt from Canada
- Sweety, MaryS, Lovetocruise2002 and 4 others
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Explorer B3B 5-28 April 2024
in Live Blogs
Posted
There is breaking news this morning that Dillard’s is reporting significant shortages of red undergarments. They believe they are not the only store experiencing supply chain issues and are extremely concerned that the shortages could last for years.
Govern yourselves accordingly …
Curt from Canada