ckruetze

If you have a suite with a Genie the popcorn is free and you don't even need to queue up for it at least that was our recent experience.

I don't agree with comments such as: Are there places on the planet where you can get a better pizza? Yes, but I really don't think the Royal Pizza is crappy. When it comes to food options, I didn't have any problems to find something in the evening. I think a bigger issue would have been late morning just before the lunch start. A lot of places are closed - including Sorrento's.

Not only can they order from either menu, but kids also get away with ordering from a different restaurant if it is available. My youngest doesn't eat a lot, so she got away with ordering spaghetti in Chops and 150 central park despite it not being on the menu on those days. They just went next door to Jamie's to get her some spaghetti. Same with the deserts, my kids asked for ice cream that wasn't on the menu but they got it for them anyway. I guess my advice would be: Be polite and don't overdo it but if they kids really would like something they get it regardless of the menu. Actually the same for adults. I do not like truffle fries but I never had a problem ordering fries without truffle despite it not being on the menu or a surf'n turf if both steak and lobster are on the menu. Just be polite and ask.

I've recently been on the Symphony in a star class suite. And what the star class guests got was a free bridge tour. We also booked the all access tour (actually the same day as the star class bridge visit just later). The all access tour was great. As described by @Sarastep only on the bridge it wasn't a bridge crew member but the tour guide who spoke to us. On the star class bridge tour it was the second officer who showed us around and explained everything. The advantage was that he had more knowledge then the tour guide. And working there he knew what buttons to press. My daughter asked how high the waves were and he said not sure but let's look at the wave radar (I can't remember the actual name of that radar) and he showed her the current wave height, wave height for the entire day etc. Also the star class bridge tours are usually smaller with less people. So for visiting other parts of the ship definitely book the all access tour, it was great fun.

Yes I really underestimated the time it takes to write something useful. I will try again as the next cruise is already booked for next year. Regarding the noise, I don't think I have read anything about that anywhere. Maybe it is normal for cruise ships or maybe it is an American thing. next year I'll go to an US theme park then I can compare that to Europe with regards to the noise.

OK, I'm sorry, I didn't finish the second week. But it more or less went like the first one - it was great. I have learned something about writing a live blog - do it on the day itself or you will forget half of it. Departure day I didn't like - not because it was the end of the holiday but rather because it was a busy, early day and with the luggage packing the day before it meant that even the evening before departure day was a little annoying. I think it was mentioned before but I think it could be a nice option to have both departure and arrival later in the day. Departure just after lunch would be nice and I would be ok to arrive just before dinner time. So let me close with my personal summary. The cruise was fantastic. For me and my girls the destination was the ship and not the ports we visited. Apart from arrival and departure my daughters and I left the ship only ones. Maria was on land way more often I think 8 times but that's why we decided on a cruise we hoped and were not disappointed with us being able to go on holiday together but still do individual things. Adventure Ocean wasn't that much fun for my kids but they were ok with doing things by themself. They walked of and did whatever they felt like together. The 6 year old was a little too young to walk around alone, also she doesn't have a mobile so she couldn't message us if she gets lost or needs something else. For the next cruise I definitely put a $ 0 limit on my daughters cards, they don't need to spend that much time in the arcades. The cabin itself. It was just perfect. The kids also had fun playing there alone for hours on end. So when Maria and I went to a show the girls stayed in the cabin (with some room service ice cream). I have mentioned it before, the technology could use an update. A smart home that was planed 10 years ago isn't that smart today. Also in some areas the smart home limited the use. It wasn't possible to turn individual lights on or of. As the Wonder of the seas is newer, I hope this will be a smarter experience when we try it next year. It was our first cruise as a family and we had done extensive research before it mainly on YouTube and here. But the one thing we didn't expect was the noise level. I was talking to other European guests with a lot of cruise experience and they all confirmed. Royal Caribbean is an American cruise line that means they don't only build the best and biggest ships but sadly also the loudest ones. I enjoyed all the shows I saw but I don't think I saw a single one where the sound couldn't have been turned down at least 10%. Or walking through the promenade with live music - it's nice, but I think it was too loud. And the only reason why my girls didn't like Izumi Hibachi was because the noise level hurt there ears. I really don't know why everything must be so loud but I hope there is a good reason as the loudest is not always the best. Finally if there is anything you would like a picture of, let me know and I check if I took one. Christian PS Next time I write shorter reports but daily. And I include more pictures.

I'm so sorry, I got the name wrong. Stepan, Sunil and Reno (the guy who is on a lot of Star Class advertisings).

Day 2.5 – Civitavecchia We had room service breakfast. I ordered it through the Genie the night before and somewhere along the line there was some communication breakdown. I ordered for Maria 2 eggs benedict with toast. She got two plates with two eggs benedict each and the eggs already on some sort of toast. In addition she got a big plate full of toast. For myself I ordered 2 eggs over easy, so I got two plates with two eggs each. The girls order wasn’t doubled After breakfast Maria used the bus to the town and walked around for a while. She found some museums to check out and generally had fun. Me and the girls relaxed even more and then went to the suite sundeck again to do more relaxing After Maria joined us, we went back to the cabin to enjoy today's selection of canapés, chocolate strawberries and other goodies. Maria went to the spa for an hour or so to use the steam room. Dinner was at 150 Central Park again. We liked it the first time so we went again. As usual for our early dinner time we had the restaurant more or less to ourself. After dinner we went to our last HIRO show for the cruise. I lost count how often we have seen it, but it is a nice show and the girls love it. So we went there for the last time. Late ate night Maria and I relaxed in the hot tub for a while. It showed again that the location of the room for a hot tub is not perfect. It sometimes feels that you are on display and a lot of people are taking pictures of the balcony with you in the hot tub. I have a feeling my posts get shorter and shorter. Sorry for that, but a lot of things repeat after one week. However we are having a great day and really enjoying the 2nd week. All 4 of us think 2 weeks is perfect. One week is just too short but we wouldn't want to stay any longer now. We all want to go home - even if that means no Genie and no loft attended and now canapés.

Stepan, Sunil and Reno are currently on Symphony

The general ice skating sessions that you can book are never too full. I guess they limit the number of people on the ice to make it not too full. This is a picture from the skating session on day one in Barcelona. It wasn't too full. But still the private skating lesson was something else.

Day 2.4 – La Spezia We had an (for us) early breakfast at Coastal Kitchen as we had to be at the Studio B at 9:45. Our Genie had arranged a private ice skating lesson for our girls with one of the cast members from the ice shows. The girls absolutely loved it. Both of them had never skated before our Symphony trip, but they both have inline skates at home. They had a full 60 minutes on the ice. They learned a lot and were exhausted after it for the rest of the day. I had a brief look at the catacombs under the seating area. Without skates I had to duck at places to walk through there and the cast members run through there with skates on during the show. Maria and I wisely took jumpers to the ice ring for us as sitting in the cold for an hour while dressed for a Mediterranean summer isn’t nice. But Maria left after about 45 minutes anyway. Maria got the free shuttle bus from the ship to the terminal building. It only takes 5 minutes and it’s right opposite the city. She went to the Naval Museum and wandered around the streets. The girls and I had lunch in Coastal Kitchen. Pizza for the 8 year old and spaghetti for the other one. As always great food in a great location. After that we relaxed outside somewhere in the shade and did more or less nothing Chops Grill was the choice for dinner on day 4 of the second week. Finally our 8 year old decided to try something other then pizza or spaghetti again and she liked it. She finished her whole plate of shrimps. After skating in the morning the girls had to see the ice show again so we went to 1977: “A Thrilling Adventure on ice” again. I think we have now seen it 3 or 4 times within two weeks. It is really nice but I prefer “iSkate 2.0” sadly that one is only on on day 7 and it is shorter then 1977. Oh and I did something for me embarrassing, I got the start time of the show wrong. I thought it was 21:30 but it started at 21:15. Yes, I am Germany and I like to be on time or rather 10 minutes early so this is really nothing that I enjoy. Luckily our Genie knows us by now and at 21:10 he called me wondering where we are. We had to walk faster and got to our seats at 21:20.

Day 2.3 – Marseille This one will be a short one as we didn’t do much. Breakfast was more or less as usual in Coastal Kitchen. After that Maria went to Marseille to walk around the town and look for a museum or two – she found some plus a French supermarket to buy some French sweets. For lunch the girls and I were adventurous, we went to Windjammer. We didn’t try everything but what we tried was ok. After that we went to the Suite sundeck to relax and really not do much of anything at all. Dinner was at Coastal Kitchen. This was our first ever dinner at Coastal Kitchen. We all found something to eat. Our 6 year old more or less eats spaghetti bolognaise for lunch and dinner whenever possible. That is on this cruise and not at home. But ok, that’s better then sweets only. I do like the atmosphere in Costal Kitchen. It also helps that we don’t have to use the elevator from the room to get there. Plus the view is really good. As always we had very friendly waiters and really good food. After dinner Maria and I went to the Casino – we lost about $20 but I gained 11 casino points. Together with the 15 or so from last week, I’m now at 26 and I only need another 2.474 until April of next year to earn a free cruise. I’ll try my best but somehow I don’t think that will happen. The girls watched HIRO from the balcony, we got the time wrong for the start if the show, thought it was 9.30PM but it was 9.15PM, the girls weren’t happy Maria and I were ten minutes late, they had carefully arranged the chairs on the balcony for us 4 so that we could all sit and see it from up here.

Day 2.2 – Palma Hm, I don’t remember much about the day - doesn't really help to wait so long in writing it down. Let’s do it in reverse order, with the things I do remember. It was a Monday and we were in Palma. In the evening my 8 year old and I went to see “Hairspray! The Broadway Musical”. Fun incident, a Genie (not Stepan our Genie) knocked over my daughters popcorn (half of it fell out) and then about a minute later he knocked it over a second time to completely empty them. He apologised and called our Genie to bring a new one. Since that event it is sort of a running joke with my kids to always say “hide your popcorn” when they see him. We have met all three Genies on the Symphony and all three are very friendly and greet us when we meet – I guess it helps to stay on for two weeks so the crew gets to know you better. Back to Hairspray, the show was great again with great performers. We really enjoyed watching it. The show was somewhat late starting at 22:30 but a nice benefit of that is at half past midnight there aren’t too many other people wanting to use the elevators. Dinner on day 2.2 was a little different. Maria and I wanted to do Izumi Hibachi but the girls didn’t enjoy it the first time, the noise level was really high. So I got the girls some pizza from Sorento’s and later they got some room service strawberry ice cream. Hibachi was nice for Maria and myself, our table started roughly 10 to 15 minutes before the other two tables so our chef didn’t have to shout so loud and there was no shouting from the other tables for most of our meal. The afternoon we spent on the suite sundeck, it was very empty that day. Great bar tender up there and plenty of places to relax. For lunch we decided on Coastal Kitchen and we had an early. The girls wanted to sleep in so we skipped breakfast. We have never been in Coastal Kitchen when it was full and we have never been disappointed. Same was true for Palma. We had great staff and great food again. During the morning I worked a little and the others slept in, until a test alarm. Not sure if it is supposed to be like that, but the message that a test alarm will follow was played everywhere except the cabins. I was on the balcony so I heard it. But the actual test alarm was also played in the cabin. So Maria and kids woke up and were asking what’s going on. It might make sense to play the announcements before a test through the same speakers where the actual test would be played… OK, I think I managed to remember most of the day in the end.

The video games available. Please not I have not turned on either console so I don't know if more games are available as downloads without disks.

Afternoon snacks We started with something really nice looking, one plate full of snacks, more then adequate. But it got more. By day 2 we had 3 plates Then it got more and more. This is day 7 (yes, we had some friends over so it was more): The friends left again but the plates didn't. We don't like to waste food so I politely asked to reduce it again by at least one plate. This is day 11: If it stays at this level everything is good, otherwise I will add another picture.

OK, I know I have already some days to catch up with but let me try some answers and hopefully some pictures first. The room overall: It is really nice, we love it and it is in a great condition. If I should pick out some negative things I guess I would start with the technology. It feels like a smart home 5 to 10 years ago. Some things have older touch screens, others have lots of buttons. Example, next to my side of the bed I have light switches labelled 1 to 6 and off. I'm now here for 10 days and I still couldn't tell you what 1 to 6 do. Theyx turn on lights - but what the difference is - no idea. Also while very nice, it is confusing the off switch turns everything off but with various delays. Some lights turn instantly off, the longest one has a 30 second delay - now that is cool, but it took me about 5 days to figure this out. Also some of the TVs share a remote (others even the program - I think). And there is no way to turn individual sets of lights off. For example the stairs have some nice lights but from where I'm sitting at the table right now they are really bright in my face, but I can only turn them off with the rest of the room. The curtains are also interesting, they are big, heavy and electric, but you can either open or close them, not half close them for example. If you want them closed but leave a gap to go to the balcony that is not possible - or I didn't figure out how. I guess if you have teenagers the consoles would be a problem. Not the latest generation and not that many games. We don't play that much, but don't you just log into your account anyway and then have all the games you play at home? OK, now the smaller things - I love a pitch black room for sleeping but there are a lot of smaller lights here and there, that are a little annoying. - I understand real estate on a ship is tight, so they use smaller toilets but why are they so low? Please build them higher in the future. Also the flushes are so hard that my kids need help to press them ??? - If you have a kitchen, please build the fridge in the kitchen and not away from it. Really the negative points are only there because I needed to write something. We love this room and the ship and we would book it again.

Yes it is more or less vanilla with two or three bacon slices stuck in there. I usually also really like bacon just not in milkshakes.

Day 8 – back in Barcelona (6th of August 2023) We started the day early. Maria had an excursion booked for Barcelona. Something that was tricky without a Genie. The excursions for day 8 I was able to book on the app or online before the cruise all ended up at the airport, but that wasn’t really a place we wanted to go to. I figured Coastal Kitchen would be busy in the morning so we ordered room service breakfast the day before for me and the girls, Maria didn’t want anything that early. The girls and I went down to deck 5 where the exit is for our 9:30 appointment. There were some queues to leave the ship. But we didn’t really have to queue. A nice staff member took our three sea pass cards and scanned them to leave the ship. Day 2.1 – still on Barcelona The same person who scanned our cards for us to leave had an envelope with three new cards and new wow bands for us. She scanned us in again and our second week starts. All without having to actually leave the ship. Only a security guard looked at the pictures on the screen to confirm that we were the three people she scanned out and in. She also gave us three new WOW bands. She asked us if we wanted to keep the old sea pass cards – I said no. Thinking back I’m not sure it was a good idea the old cards would have been nice to keep but then again even more junk to store at home. Fun fact: As Maria left really early at 7:45 for the excursion that isn’t usually bookable by people attending this cruise. It is bookable only for people who get on in Italy she was too early for the B2B cruise meeting. So our Genie got her her new sea pass card almost 24 hours early. With the explicit instructions to not use the new one until she is back from the excursion and to leave the ship with the old one but scan the new one when returning. The small devil in me would have loved to try, what happens if you use a sea pass card for a future cruise on the current one? So I guess the surprise was we have a B2B cruise in the Ultimate Family Suite As we didn’t change the state rooms or anything else like that we didn’t have to pack so all those app messages about luggage and when to leave were not important. Gloria our loft attendant was also happy as it meant one room less to deep clean for a guest change. Lunch was at Coastal Kitchen. Initially it started as me and the girls as Maria was still somewhere in Barcelona. But she returned just as the girls were about to leave. So I stayed longer with Maria. In the afternoon we didn’t do much. We finally managed to all go to the Suite sundeck. For the two hours or so we were there the 4 of use more then doubled the number of guests up there. We had the hot tub to ourselves and plenty of seating everywhere Dinner was at Jamie’s. As always very friendly staff and we all found something we like. Also we were not greeted with “Welcome aboard” but instead “Welcome back” – I guess they will miss us next week. (I can already reveal right now that there won’t be a third week in the Ultimate Family Suite for us or even anywhere else, we all miss our home, our work, our friends, ...) After dinner Maria and the girls went to HIRO again – I guess at this point we have seen all the bigger shows. And I used the time to catch up on writing the blog. I have now finally managed to catch up to right now, week: 2, day: 1, time: 23:14. The only thing that I haven’t managed to sort out is the photos to upload but I have taken a lot of them so I will get around to that too – I promise. The day is not finished. At midnight is the balloon drop on the Royal Promenade and both girls would like a balloon. The 6 year old ones would like a blue one and the other a yellow one. But they are both too tired to go so mum has to do it. I’ll report the next day if she managed to get the desired colours. Oh and finally, if you are on board right now and your iPhone is called “tamik” I’m not giving you the code to connect to the TV in our cabin. I know you have tried it several times this evening but forget it, you won’t get the code from me!

I'm getting old, I forgot something. On day 7 we hosted a small party for 3 new friends we met on the cruise. The cabin is always stocked with plenty of drinks anyway so no worries here. And we figured we should really use the bottle of champagne provided on day 1 for arrival. The poor staff members who changed the ice daily on it. But with me not drinking a whole bottle was too much for Maria, so having some friends over was perfect. We ordered some drinks. I asked our Genie about it and it was no problem at all. The daily amount of snacks was just slightly increased for the day but no other changes. Also I guess since we didn't order any alcohol or large amounts of other drinks and our friends all had drink packages with alcohol (except the child) there was no charge for that.

Day 7 – at Sea Day 7 was rough. Windy and high seas. I don’t mind that but others do. Maria and our 6 year old took some seasickness medicine around lunch time. I’m not sure at all what we did yesterday. I think Maria went to the spa in the morning for an early treatment – again don’t ask I wouldn’t be able to tell you what it was anyway - but she returned happy so all is good. I went to Coastal Kitchen alone. I took two plates of pancakes to the room for the girls. All of day 7 feels strange, you can see suitcases here and there or people with luggage tags. I think this is somewhat sad. It would be so much nicer if a cruise ended around lunch time and not early morning, to be able to have a great day 7 and not get into the departure mood. At 9 am we were supposed to have a Star Class exclusive Flowrider session but that got cancelled due to the waves. (Strangely enough we had higher waves later on and both Flowrider were in use.) About 8:50 our Genie rang our door bell to inform us about that. But he had an alternative. Ice skating. The girls were a little annoyed that they had to change quickly, but a bathing suit isn’t really allowed for ice skating. All day long the app annoyed me with stupid departure messages. Like settle your account, do this do that. Be prepared at 7:45am to leave the ship etc. Royal, if you are reading this, please improve your IT. You have my credit card on file to settle the account, so don’t tell me to go to Guest Services to settle my account. Also the app knows my cabin number so the app should know that I’m star class and there is some flexibility with leaving so please don’t remind me constantly to be somewhere at 7:45 in the morning where I don’t really have to be. Sorry for that – back to the regular daily program. At 11:30 we had the Star Class bridge tour. That was great. The captain was also on the bridge and came over for a minute to say hi. During a normal sea day 3 people need to be on the bridge not more as the autopilot is taking care of everything anyway. I didn’t know they had several special radars to measure the wave height. But they could switch and show wave heights forward and for both sides. At the point of the tour 7,4 or 7,5 meter was the highest wave for the day. And according to the bridge office that is very unusual for the Mediterranean usually it is much calmer. What impressed me the most, the bridge is a really big room, there are some consoles at both ends and a little bigger in the middle. However, it seems that most of the room is filled with sofas and coffee tables. It definitely looks like a nice spot to hang out and enjoy the view. For lunch we had planed on sushi at Izumi. But the day was really packed and with two people not feeling too well, we cancelled it. Early afternoon Maria and the girls had a booked cupcake decorating session. I had seen it online and I thought it was – you know – decorating the top of cupcakes. But instead every participant turned 3 cupcakes into a hamburger with fries. It looked really good and was something different. Dinner was again early at 6pm. We went to 150 Central Park and again all 4 of us found something we liked. After dinner we went to the last show for the week - iSkate 2.0. It is hard to compare that with 1977 as both shows were really good and both shows had good music but if I could see one of them again and only one I would choose iSkate 2.0. There must be a reason but I think it is strange that 1977 was on on 3 days and iSkate only on one day. After that we had some more pictures taken. Not knowing how useful it is we pre booked a 50 photo package before the cruise. And on the morning of day 7 we only had a total of 24 photos. The last guy taking photos we met around 10pm, I kept telling him, we need more, we needed 14 photos at that point. So he took enough. All of them are nice and I don’t regret buying the photo package but I wouldn’t do it again. Also it doesn’t help that you have to select your photos before the end of the cruise. Royal, if you are reading this please improve your IT. There is no way to select multiple photos to include them in the “shopping basket” also if you really want to be smart if people have selected a photo package but not selected enough photos just fill it up for them automatically from the start, form the back, randomly, but if someone buys a 50 photo package and you have at least 50 photos of that room, send him/her 50 photos. That’s it for the day, we said good buy to our loft attended assistant (I’m sorry, I haven’t figured out what the correct job title is). Fun fact, he is changing on day 8 to a different position on the ship. Actually several people have told me that during the week. Bar tenders and waiters moving to different locations. Oh and the app was busy sending me reminders about luggage etc. I ignored them until day 8!

Day 6 – Naples I’m sorry, but I forgot what we did for breakfast. I think we went to Coastal Kitchen. In general I’ve never seen Coastal Kitchen being full for breakfast. But I wish the opening hours would be longer. Several crew members told us that they enjoy Naples since the ship docks right in the city. Maria tried it and used that opportunity to walk around Naples for some hours. She had fun in the city. The girls and I did the usual thing, hang out at the pool and play. While I found a nice place in the shade to relax. I also went up to the suite sundeck for the first time. They had two bar tenders up there for a total of 4 guests (before I went up). It was nice and if we wouldn’t be hanging out with none suite friends I think we would spend more time up there - maybe next time. For dinner we went to Wonderland. It was an interesting, fun experience. Just our 6 year old didn’t find anything to eat she liked. In the end she just got fresh fries. Overall the food quality was good but the main thing was the presentation and that was excellent. We generally like to eat early with the girls between 6 and 7pm. On Mediterranean cruises this is a good time as restaurants are empty. A waiter at Jamie’s told me on Caribbean cruises he said it was usually the opposite, lot’s of people really early for dinner and empty later on. But not only does early dinner work well for the girls, it also works well with the shows. No stress at all. On some days we even go to the room for half an hour after dinner and before the show. Evenings entertainment was “Flight...Date to Dream”. Maria and I loved the show, but both girls didn’t like it. Our Genie asked us where we would want to set before the show, he had blocked some seats at the front and some on the mezzanine level (Still on deck 4) but more back and slightly higher up. As we had never seen the show, I didn’t know, so he choose for us. And for Flight the mezzanine are the better seats at least for the end part with lots of flying around in the theatre. I really enjoyed it and I would go and see it again if I can. I think I forgot on one of the earlier days that we managed to sneak in a second 1977 ice show. As the girls loved it so much. Random thoughts for the day: I think there should be more elevators or smarter elevators where you select the destination before getting on. Going from level 5 to 17 with 10 stops in between really takes very long. Also I’m surprised on how many people go to 17 my guess is because it is the top. But then they figure out there is nothing on 17 they can access and only go down again. Coastal Kitchen requires a card to access it so why not make the 17th floor on the lifts the same?

Day 5 – Civitavecchia Didn’t last long with being up to date. Now I’m already more then three days behind. Sorry for that. Oh and I will add pictures just have to find some. There was a question about the games in the gaming section of the suite. We have a PS4 and an Xbox One. Three games each but we haven’t used them. The connection also shows an Input for a Nintendo Switch but there is none. My girls would have played Nintendo games but they are not really into Xbox or Playstation games. However it is really not important for us. We didn’t come here to play video games. I just figured out what the problem is with being 3 days behind. I can’t remember what we did 3 days ago. We didn’t leave the ship, we stayed on board. Maria went to the spa for some treatments – don’t ask me what it was. Even if she would be here right now and explain it to me, I wouldn’t be able to understand it. Maybe the female readers would understand her but I don’t. Breakfast was interesting. We went to Johnny Rockets. Maria was the only one of us who enjoyed a bacon milkshake. While the food was good, the portions were too big for all of us and not really something we would order for breakfast. We would eat there again but not for breakfast. As everywhere else on board the staff were friendly and helpful. Interesting observation sometimes sometimes the checks have a $ 0 as the item price and sometimes they have a real price and then a 100% discount below them to get to $ 0 again. Not sure what happens when or why. We went to the pool and the girls had some fun. For lunch we got some smaller things from El Loco Fresh. Surprisingly for us even our girls who are picky eaters enjoyed it. In the afternoon our 8 year old one went to play with another 8 year old girl she met. Both girls asked if they could play ONE game in the arcade. And both kids managed to play 25 $2 games for a total of $50 each. So, lesson learned – no more unsupervised arcade privileges for the girls. On dinner we went to Chops Grille. All 4 of us found something we like. I have no idea why but since the cruise started the girls love strawberry ice cream. At home they eat it but not constantly. So as usual during this holiday they got strawberries ice cream for dessert. We didn’t do anything new for entertainment after that. We went to HIRO again. The girls really had fun and want to go again – not sure if we will manage to do that this week as there are shows we haven’t seen at all. After HIRO the girls and I went to the room and Maria went to “The Greatest 80’s Party Ever!”

A quick question. Should I post some pictures? If so of what? I don't think I've seen anything so far that hasn't already been shown here on the forum and definitely on the internet. I can try to add photos I just don't know what would be interesting.

Day 4 – La Spezia I’m back to only one day behind the actual trip. Breakfast was again at Coastal Kitchen around 8:30. The day before I forgot to mention that our Genie asked us in the evening if we enjoyed the fruit, chocolate covered strawberries and cake. We looked confused at him and said it was day 2 and not day 3. That made him confused as he definitely said he ordered some for us and he will enquire what happened. So at day 4 for breakfast he was able to report that the order arrived in the kitchen for chocolate covered strawberries – wherever that is on the ship – and they also noted that the strawberries definitely left that kitchen but they never made it to deck 17. As we weren’t worried at all it’s rather funny that they investigate that. And I really wonder if they ever found them. We didn’t do much in the morning. Maria went to the spa. The girls played here or there. They also found the arcade and I allowed them one game each – surprisingly they sicked to it. For lunch we went to Coastal Kitchen which was not only empty but more importantly the lunch was nice. We will go there again for lunch during this trip. After lunch we went to the meeting place for the Pisa tour. It was really nice that it was an afternoon tour instead of early morning. The meeting was in Studio B the ice rink, but everybody was dressed for a hot day out in Pisa. The bus ride took about one hour but that hour went very quickly. I checked on google maps the route and then I was able to choose seats in the shade instead of the sunny side of the bus. If you don’t like too much sun I suggest you always do that before longer excursions. Pisa itself was ok, I can now confirm having seen it with my own eyes that the tower is really leaning. What I didn’t expect was that the place where the tower is is relatively small and a lot of tourists want to visit that tower so it is very very crowded. Oh and no, I didn’t take the usual picture while pretending to hold the tower up or push it over. During the tour my kids met another 8 year old girl and they had a lot of fun together playing and chatting. On the bus ride back to the ship two rows behind us a small boy had a slight problem (a sick bag would have helped) but we arrived back at La Spezia before the smell got too bad. We only had about 45 minutes to get ready for dinner at Hooked. Hooked was great, the food was nice and finally no truffle fries. They offered “normal” ones and spicy cajun ones – I liked both. Maria and the girls also found something they enjoyed so overall it was a great dinner. The girls really wanted strawberry ice cream for dessert – that wasn’t on the menu but the waiter went to get some from Windjammer. What a great service. The girls were really happy and both want to go back – not sure if it was due to the food or the ice cream. After dinner we had to go straight down to level 4 for the show “Hector is Magic”. Our Genie greeted us at the entrance with popcorn ready for the girls. A random family decided to ignore the reserved for Star Class banners on the seats and occupied them. That didn’t go down too well with the Genie – I felt a little bit embarrassed for causing some trouble but then again how could you ignore about 10 big purple seat covers in a room with 1000 seats? The show was really great and something for all ages. All four of us would visit it again. Also sitting just next to us were some new friends we from Germany we met on the first day. It wasn’t planned but they had the seats just next to us. The girls had decided to go to the ice show 1977: “A Thrilling Adventure on Ice” a second time. Both because they really enjoyed it but also because the Genie greeted them with popcorn a second time that evening. From the Royal Theater to Studio B is just past the elevators so that was really quick and no queuing to get up. After that we returned to the cabin and decided to use the hot tub as a family. It was late and dark outside so we used the function to have lots of different coloured lights in the tub and relaxed for 20 or so minutes before turning in for the night.

Day 3 – Marseille Sorry for slacking off and now already being two days late. I’ll try to catch up somehow. We again started the day with an (for us) early breakfast at 8ish. Maria had to be at the meeting point at 9 for the “Marseille By Open-Top Bus” tour. She enjoyed it and had fun oh and despite the name the tour also had two longer stops to walk around at places. Me and the girls met some new friends for lunch at “Sorento’s”. The girls used the Coca Cola cups for the first time and yes they work but for smaller people (kids) it is hard to fill them or rather hard to stop before they overfill as they can’t see when they are filled to the top. After that we briefly returned to the room to relax and chat before we went to the pool deck. They must have read my blog from yesterday as there were times with only one life guard at “Splashaway Bay”. Despite the windows on that deck 15 it was somewhat windy and a little bit cold on that deck. My 8 year old went up to the big slides and she came back and said not again it is too cold up there with the wind. Actually when leaving the harbour it was the first time on this cruise that we really felt we were on a ship. No big waves or glasses moving just before that it was so calm that it didn’t feel like a ship at all. Dinner was at Jamie’s. We were welcomed back as we went there for the boarding day lunch. Service was good and it was again not very crowded. We had dinner at 6 pm and by the time we left I would say about 50% to 70% of the tables were occupied. As evening entertainment we went to “Hairspray! The Broadway Musical”. Maria and I liked it it was really good. Our 8 year old daughter also thought also it was good but for our 6 year old one it was too long (1 hour 45 or so). After the musical Maria took the girls to the room to get ready for bed and I spent my first ever hour in the casino. I used $ 20 from my sea pass card. And after the hour I had $ 0,18 left (please note I’m from Germany so I write it 0,18 and not 0.18). Oh and I got 15 casino points – not sure what to do with them but I have them now. When I started in the casino there was a distinct popcorn smell, but after about half an hour it slowly turned into cigarette smell despite being on the non smoking side. Also on deck you find signs every 5 meter that a wet floor is slippery (something that is obvious for people from outside North America or at least something we don’t sue a cruise company for that). But the casino was definitely lacking signs that one side is none smoking – I wonder, can I sue Royal for any health problems I might ever get due to the fact that too many people smoked in the none smoking side? Random observation for the day: A ship this size needs more elevators (I think I mentioned that one before)