CruisingNewb

First, I enjoy your thoughtful comments. Whether I agree, they are well thought out and even-handed (mostly). I highlighted 3 things you said. 1. RCCL is a business. I am not making excuses for them. I also agree that our collective and aggregate input should, and sometimes does, shape RCCL policy. But the FACT of the matter is, its RCCL's business. Whether I, typing on a keyboard, in my pajamas, with moderate management experience, think I know better than RCCL, that is wholly irrelevant. It isn't my business, its RCCL's. I hate it, but that is reality. Apple, under Steve Jobs, was ruthless. They knew what they offered and stood firm. When antennae gate was all the rumble, Steve Jobs just said the customers shouldn't hold the phone that way instead of immediately appealing to the consumer. 2. Yes. Discuss. Even rant. Okay. That is different than what the OP and many others do. They throw a temper tantrum with zero objectivity, and leave. Sorry, no sympathy from me. 3. The way some people state it, and the words some people use may be inappropriate, but the reality is, like I mentioned before, this is a fan site, its 2023, Matt is transparent about this site not being affiliated with RCCL. Royal Caribbean Blog is an unofficial fan blog written for other fans of Royal Caribbean International. The Royal Caribbean Blog is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International Now, what you and I are doing is intelligent, adult, healthy debate. It is robust. We are acknowledging one another. We are offering opinion, fact, and trying to be objective without being wholly unsubjective. This is productive. What the OP did was NOT productive.

the soy sauce thing is a little different in my opinion. In Japan, the sushi is simply amazing. Even the sushi sold at Costco Japan is good. The rice is flavored well and the amount of wasabi pre-applied is good. So in Japan, I never feel the need to add wasabi to soy sauce. In fact...some sushi is not meant to be dipped into soy sauce at all. And to top things off, only the fish is to be dipped into the soy sauce. Now...to get the kind of sushi I speak of above, you have to pay top dollar or find a sushi chef that really knows. So, here, in the States, I mix wasabi into my soy sauce to my heart's desire and dip like a mad man. Soy sauce on the fish. SOy sauce on the rice. Yum, yum, yum. Trust me when I say this, as a full blooded Asian, most sushi places outside of Japan have sushi chefs that are not likely Japanese or even Japan trained. So what do they care? I doubt the chefs at Izumi give 2 cents whether you mix, dip, or use a fork.

Amazon. Got 100 or more for $10 and we still have 50 after 2 cruises.

You give a fair opinion as to perspective and get points for morality and kindness from me. I do not disagree that maybe we were somewhat dismissive or harsh. Having said that, think about the following if you will: 1. More often than not, people who come to these boards and complain like the OP are one-offers. They come to rant and leave. They are not looking for empathy. 2. Empathy requires a person to understand and share in the feelings of the emoter. Many of us cannot do this because many of us understand a few things. A. RCCL is a business like all other cruise lines. B. This is 2023. We are in the information age and information (and unfortunately misinformation) is available 24/7 and literally at your finger tips. C. Many of us are prudent and do our homework to anticipate all sorts of crazy scenarios. D. This forum, and Matt in particular, advocates for using a travel agent. A TA would have been able to work something out or at the very least calm the OP down a little. 3. Did I mention that RCCL is a business? Right or Wrong, it is their business. We can certainly speak up and help shape future decisions such as cancelling a cruise in favor of a charter, but ultimately, they have a lot of information that they use and weigh to make these decisions and we simply do not. We can do a lot of guessing, but again, they are the cruise pros. 4. You suggest discussing the issues. We are. 5. People are crass by nature. A public forum, or semi-public forum, will have a lot of differing perspectives, but a fan forum will have more like-minded people than not. 6. MOST IMPORTANTLY, this is a FAN SITE.

I'm American born and bred Asian. Can't use chopsticks if my life depended upon it. I get the blunt of ridicule at every Asian restaurant I eat at. So you are in good company!

Not only is it acceptable to eat sushi with your hands, it is the traditional method to which sushi should be eaten. Now...obviously Izumi has non-sushi dishes such as ramen noodles and salads. If you eat those dishes with your hands, let the ridicule begin lol. Kidding....in what world does a Japanese restaurant (not otherwise located in Japan) only provide chopsticks? Ask for a fork. Enjoy your meal.

Congrats on your first cruise! There are soooo many great and informative threads here to help you get on your way. I will be honest, I am an overplanner and like to know everything before leaving my home for any vacation. HOWEVER, I am going to give you advice that sounds contrary to my personal views....Keep it as simple as possible. Be studious and prudent and read up on as much pre-cruise planning as possible, and there are many things that you can never be ocer-prepared for, but overall, keep it simple. For example: 1. Pre-check in: DO - Make sure you have documents, do your pre-check in and get your boarding time. DON'T - go over every worst case scenario like "gauging the exact mileage from your pre-cruise hotel to the port, estimating the Uber time to the port, and fixating on exact departure time." By over-thinking, you will eventually fall into a self-fulfilling prophecy scenario. Relax. 2. Dining: DO - homework and evaluate dining times and packages. DON'T - plan out every meal with exact times, menu items, etc. Eat when you are hungry, don't fret about squeezing every penny's worth out of packages. Enjoy. 3. Activities: DO - make lists of on-board activities and shore excursions you are interested in. DON'T try to do everything, everywhere, all at once. So many things you can do while at port destinations, BUT--so many things you can do on an empty ship when people are at port! Our first cruise was a 3 nighter to Mexico and we spent all day at port. In retrospect, we could have just spent a few hours at port and enjoyed some of the onboard activities while the ship was quieter. Have fun. 4. Tipping and Other Cruise Customs: DO - tip, say thank you, and say please. DON'T - fret about how much to tip, don't fret about which side "port" and "starboard" are (if there is an emergency, staff will help you get where you need to go), don't subscribe to the "I have everything on my phone" or "leave passports in your room" stuff. Just keep it simple and take everything with you. 5. Internet: DO - download the cruise app. DON'T - unless YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO WORK, don't get internet. Ditch the screen time in favor of "me" time. Enjoy your cocktail by the pool and people watch. I know these things all sound contradictory and it seems like I am saying do everything, but do nothing. But if you really, really think carefully here, I am advocating for knowledge while saying whittle things down to the simplest form and treat it like a vacation.

Before joining this wonderful forum, I had a similar predicament. We collected international Starbucks bears. We saw one in Ensenada during a Carnival cruise, but forgot to pick one up. I talked to my TA friend. Asked him to reach out to anyone going on a cruise to Ensenada and giving that person my info. I got the bear. Just another idea. Keep in mind, a responsible TA shouldn't give you a traveler's info, but should be able to pass on your info to the traveler because you are directly authorizing them.

Yes. Although we enjoyed eating inside Izumi's (3 times), we also ordered food to take back and eat on the balcony. Really enjoyed doing so.

Champagne roll was good, but overall, I found Izumi rolls to be quite overwhelming, not at all nuanced, and big. We ate Izumi's 3 times last year and on 2 different cruises. I have always said, don't compare cruise ship food/amusement park food/resort food to Michelin Star food. Izumi's is good. Not Japan good. Not even Los Angeles good. It would be a disservice to myself if I expected Izumi's to be as good as in Japan. Just enjoy. My recommendations are: 1. The sashimi plate. It is above average, but has variety of at least 4 fish/seafoods, at least 3 different types of seaweed, and elegantly presented. 2. The Karaage chicken. It is very good. 3. Poke Bowl. It is more like a chirashi bowl. It is not too big, but not too small. Solid option.

The arcade credit worked great for my kids (14 and 9 yr old). I loaded $100 on each sea pass. Told them to spend no more than $25 a day. We had shore excursions for 2 of the 7 days of our cruise. They would leave the room each day after lunch and spend 30 to 45 minutes at the arcade, play some ping pong, grab some pizza, walk around, and come back a couple hours later. This gave us much needed time away from the kids. Our last two RCCL cruises had arcade games that were all fully functional. I say its a good thing.

They are very similar. We got the Polar Bear ones and then saw the brown bear ones in the gift shop. Quality is virtually identical. For Alaska, the Polar Bear ones are too cute. We got 4 and wore them to breakfast every morning lol

I do not advocate for trying to board prior to check-in time. I agree its a no-no. That doesn't mean don't get to the port earlier than your check-in time though. If you have a 12:30 check-in time, you should be at the port 15 minutes early, give or take 5 minutes. I'm not saying 1 hour early. Not saying 45 minutes early. When you arrive at port, the line of people in front of you are potentially and mostly people still waiting to check-in for earlier times. On the other hand, the only time I say its totally okay to arrive super early to port is if you have one of the first check-in times. You aren't cheating the system, you are the earliest boarding time. As for food, c'mon...its a cruise...you are not going to starve. There will be food options when you board. I have never heard a reasonable person say there were no dining options on a cruise.

Should be about a one (1) foot walkway from the edge of the pull-out sofa and the desk/dresser. Enough to walk out onto the balcony. I have a picture, but my kids are sleeping on the bed in the picture and would kill me if I posted in public.

Yes. Also, the service is pretty great with a quick turn around time if you send out by day 4. This was a cheap alternative for us because we traveled extremely light and the cost and time to check in luggage at the airport was not worth our time. I think we paid $30 and fit a lot of clothes into the one bag they gave us.

Things to consider for both iFly and Northstar: 1. If you are not planning to do the Space Needle or the ferris wheel in Seattle, Northstar on embarkation day offers great views of Seattle. We were lucky to have done it in Seattle AND Skagway for FREE. The entertainment director was so nice to us when we met him on Northstar on embarkation day, that we tipped him and always greeted him when we saw him. No one was in line for Northstar when we happened to walk by while ship was in port at Skagway and he offered us an additional free ride. I'm not advocating bribery....that was never my intention. What I am saying is that both Seattle and Skagway Northstar experiences were nearly equally good. 2. iFly is for everyone. Don't think age or fear of heights is an obstacle. It is very safe and an expert will be in the tube with you holding onto you if necessary. The paid for version only gets you about 1 minute longer than the free version. Is it worth it to pay? Maybe. Do you have to pay? NOPE. The free version was great!

That's the very definition of "candid." LOL (of a photograph of a person) taken informally, especially without the subject's knowledge:"it is better to let the photographer mingle among the guests and take candid shots"

We were not able to connect until on the ship. BUT---we had no issues making dining reservations and the only show that I understand to be reservable is the Pixels show. We reserved with no issues. We also reserved our free Northstar and free iFly sessions without issue.

@CAGirl30 You see the area to the left right of this image that I posted below? That parking area is where we were dropped off. The terminal to board Ovation is at the top right of the image. Ovation is about 1,100 feet long. Between the area we were dropped off and the entrance of the terminal (where we walked to) and where our Uber dropped us off, is at least 2,000 feet, but probably more like 2,200 feet. A mile is about 5,000 feet. So the walk that we made was closer to 1/2 a mile than 1/4 of a mile.

I can't remember exactly how long it took us, but we walk fast and I was judging distance by how many minutes it took us from drop off to terminal gates. It took us about 10 minutes or so. Its not more than 1/2 a mile, but not less than 1/4 mile. Also, when we got there, not even taxis could drop off at the terminal doors because there were so many trucks coming in and out for restocking the ships and such. You may have a different experience. My input was only meant to share our experience so that you have an idea of the many, many, many scenarios you may encounter.

Oh...here is a novel idea: Stay at the Queen Mary! It is a short taxi ride to the San Pedro Cruise Terminal and taxis are required by law to carry a car seat for young children.

I know that this may be an unpopular suggestion regarding car seats, but.... When we used to travel with our children, when they still needed car seats and strollers, we would fly into the destination, take public transportation to the nearest Walmart, buy the cheapest $20 stroller and $20 car seat, and use it during the vacation. Prior to flying back home, we would try to give away the car seat and stroller to anyone at the airport who had kids. If no takers, we would leave them behind at lost and found. We just found that the convenience in traveling light outweighed $40 to $60 dollars in buying a limited use car seat and stroller.

Without more detail @JNS123about your trip, I can offer you my experience (and from my memory from last summer): 1. We stayed one block from Pike Market. We opted to Uber there. Cost us $30 for a mid-sized vehicle for a family of four. It took 15 minutes to get there. 2. We had the earliest check-in time. 11:00? Yes, you should try to stick to the time assigned. No this does not mean show up right at 11:00 or whatever time. See below. 3. Even Ubers cannot deliver you to the front of the terminal. They are required by many, many, many personnel, to drop you off about half a mile from the terminal in a staging area. You must walk the rest of the way. This will take no more than 10 minutes, but from entering the terminal area to drop off, if there are alot of cars, add in another 10 minutes. 4. Keep in mind there are bathrooms, but only 2 on the outside of the terminal building. The closer you are to the front of the line, the better. 5. The front of the terminal has a roped off area that can accommodate about 60 people with luggage. Then, there is a street separating the next waiting area. This is a shuttle pick-up area. Keep in mind 2 things: (A) there will be alot of foot traffic from people trying to get to their shuttle; (B) this is the only designated smoking area that I know of and people will be smoking there. The fumes spread out. If you don't like this, get there early.

I don't know of any fish cooked and served whole on an RCCL cruise. I had Branzino twice times, once from Chops (i Mistakenly thought it was Jamie's), and once at Wonderland. They were both in filet form but very, very well cooked. The calamari at Jamie's and Izumi were great. Just not from the MDR.

I will try and answer this question using my experience as a former chef and my limited cruise experience (only sailed 6 times - twice on RCCL): 1. Fish is finicky. Some fish can be overcooked and still delicious. If you choose fish in the MDR, try choosing saucy fish dishes as the sauces help keep fish moist. 2. Specialty restaurant fish: Hooked is hit or miss. The branzino from Wonderland and Jaime's Italian (I think - can't recall at the moment) was good. We had it 3 times. I don't like branzino but since they are mild, white fish, they take on flavors really well. Unlike halibut, branzino seems to stay moist(er) even when slightly overcooked. We have had great shrimp and calamari experiences at all of the specialty dining options. The shellfish dishes from Chops were all okay. Not great, not bad. 3. MDR....Lobster is best during earlier dining times in my experience. They aren't hurrying to fill orders like during peak times and you likely won't get undercooked or overcooked lobster. Shrimp is sooooo hit or miss in the MDR. Calamari, when served, is a miss in the MDR. 4. Fish N Ships. If you are cruising on a ship with this venue, all of the fish and chips (halibut, pollock, and fried lobster) are cooked to perfection. Afterall, they deep fry it and once the batter is cooked, the fish comes out. Unlikely to be overcooked.