Aron_Ross

That’s my plan to help get me in the Alaskan state of mind! 😂🤣

What you describe here is EXACTLY what I went through as soon as we got on board, in trying to plan our 3 night dining + Jaime's lunch, on our Harmony of the Seas sailing last year.  We were also trying to work out the show reservations and had questions about our Labadee excursion.  It gave my girlfriend and I anxiety and we started to argue...ha ha!  That is NOT the way to start an 8-day birthday celebration cruise!  Our next sailing will be on Ovation of the Seas in early May to Alaska with no dining reservations...thank god!  The Harmony cruise was the one to get most of them out of the way and mission accomplished.  Plus we are focusing on spending money on those expensive Alaskan excursions and eating the local foods.  

Thank you for your honest review. 

My girlfriend and I are new to Royal as of last year.  We sailed Freedom in May and only dined at Giovanni's which is our favorite specialty restaurant to date.  Then in Nov we decided to try the 3 night dining package, which was an 8 night sailing.  I was hitting a milestone bday so I figured let's splurge.  I just couldn't justify the unlimited.  It seemed like way too much food, plus we like our MDR and Windjammer time too.  By the way, Windjammer on the Harmony cruise...dinner was terrible!!  Food was often cold and tasteless.  I made sure they knew about it in the post cruise survey.  Skipping forward to Navigator in Jan of this year, we tried Izumi Sushi, Jaime's for a 2nd time and Playmaker's.  I have to say, we were not impressed with any of them.  Living in Los Angeles the food scene has gotten better since I moved here in 2007.  We have great sushi and some pretty good Italian...well better than Jaime's that's for sure.  Playmaker's was a bunch of fried frozen food, even the burger was just ok.  
Back to the 3 night dining Harmony sailing, our three choices were Chops, Wonderland and 150 Central Park.  We added a lunch at Jaime's for an extra cost.  Again, wasn't too impressed with Jaime's.  The reason we gave it another shot on Navigator, my girlfriend was not feeling well on Harmony the day of Jaime's and didn't eat much.  Surprisingly my favorite was Wonderland.  I liked the food a lot, but she didn't.  Chops was very disappointing, sides were bad and my ribeye was of poor quality.  150 Central was good, but I just feel like Wonderland and 150 are worth doing once only, especially for the price.  I'm glad I got most of the dining out of the way, and perhaps they are better depending on the ship, but I'm not willing to pay for them again to find out.  Unfortunately overall we are not impressed with Royal's specialty dining, but that's just us and food of course is very subjective.    

My wife and I got away for a "just the two of us" cruise last week and given the whole premier debacle and the onboard credits they gave me as a courtesy, coupled with some Giovanni's lunch reservations I made that were pre-paid, I figured it would be a nice opportunity to book it at a discount.  
We boarded the ship right around 10:30A and went to the empty reservation desk in the Promenade.  We were only able to get 1 Chops dinner reservation and all the rest were split between Giovanni's and 150 Central Park save 1 night which we wanted for Hibachi.   Well, you can't make Hibachi reservations anywhere but Izumi so we booked all but night 4 and I make my way down to Izumi to book my hibachi reservation...and was greeted with a line out the door and to the stairs.  Looks like everyone is just heading to Izumi to make ALL their reservations during the cruise.  I find it odd that you can only make a hibachi reservation there but can make a sushi reservation anywhere.  Any restaurant can cancel the hibachi but they can't make a new one.  But other restaurants can book a reservation for anywhere else. 🤷‍♂️
So I wait in line about 45 minutes, watch people walk out either happy or pissed off.  The couple in front of me gave up and said they will do without hibachi this trip and left.  When I got up to the podium, I asked if there was anything for night 4 and the hostess said yes, for 2 people they can seat us at the 9:15 seating.  Great!  I'll take it and thank you!  Off I go...we hear Giovanni's is doing lunch for embarkation for the dining package folks so we go check it out.  As we are sitting there, I check the reservations for day 4 nothing is showing yet...maybe its a bit slow.  We'll check again later.
Well, later on we did check and still didn't see it - but I did look at the other days and found that she booked the hibachi as the same day as our only Chops dinner.  UGH!
We ask at Chops if they can change the day...they are sold out for the entire cruise.  So we just ask them to cancel hibachi and book sushi on the 4th night and we'll manage (we don't eat fish).
So, here's the good...it was food.  At Giovanni's, too much food.  Food brought out without asking....shameful wasting of food. I didn't think the food was all that great with a few standouts.  At sushi, we both very much enjoyed our selections from the bowls section of the menu.  I got beef udon and Tonkotsu pork ramen.  My wife got some fried rice and a chicken teriyaki dish.  Both of us were pleasantly surprised.  In 150 Central Park, the fried cheesecake bites were amazing.   Outside of that, the beef dishes were coated in a port sauce that had warm spices like cinnamon and/or nutmeg in them (aside from Chops), the beef cuts were all choice or worse cuts, the potatoes were loaded with garlic and/or truffles, and there were very few salad appetizer options.  Chicken piccata sauce was garlic gravy and not a bright lemon, white wine sauce with capers.  Veal medallions were OK but again, lower cut of beef that wasn't tender.  Just overall average food...I think the appeal is the abundance, not the over-arching quality.  
We also took advantage of the ala carte restaurants and very much enjoyed Johnny Rockets.  By the 6th night, we skipped a repeat of the same restaurant we had been to twice already that week and enjoyed a burger and fries dinner with apple pie ala mode for desert.  We also at at Portside BBQ on our 1st sea day...I thought the sausage was good and the brisket wasn't too bad.  The mac and cheese was flavorless and the beans tasted like Heinz English breakfast beans.   We also went to Playmaker's one evening for a snack after an early dinner. It was OK (and similar to other ships we have eaten at Playmaker's).
I wasn't sure what to expect...it would give us a chance to avoid the MDR and we hoped give a little variety to our meals.  However, it was very much eating the same over and over and I think we would have had a better variety from the MDR menus.  Given the cost of the package and the additional tips, I still was out more money than I expected as part of the deal.  Am I glad I tried it, sure, I guess...if anything to let me know that I shouldn't wonder about it again and just enjoy the MDR, buffet, and other included dining options with give plenty of variety.  
I can't imagine what was available for those that boarded after 1P - I don't know if people were able to secure dining reservations for all of their choices that boarder later...but I would be pissed if I spent over $500 and couldn't eat where I wanted because they oversold the package.

Just depends on where the ship is, might be worth it on a sea day.  Many times in you will be in areas of Alaska that is still plenty to see even though you are not in port.

That was taken during a "sea day".

yes! 

On port days, the Northstar goes straight up and then down.  One thing about that is it actually goes higher than it does when it swing out over water so the view of a port is quite cool.  I have done the over water experience, but not since they began charging for it and I would not personally pay for it.  I think the length of the experience is about the same.  When it goes straight up, it stays up there for a few minutes. 

Hello all,
Sailing to Alaska on May 11th and it will be mine and my girlfriend's first time...we are super excited!  Just want to confirm if North Star is free on port days and a charge on sea days?
 

Hello all,
I'm not on this sailing but stopped in just out of curiosity and wishful thinking, as I sit here at work torturing myself looking at pictures of St Kitts.  It's all good, I've got Alaska coming up on Ovation in May.  CAN'T WAIT!!
I've been to Coco Cay but not to St Thomas or St Kitts.  I will be in St Thomas Nov 2024 on the Carnival Celebration...ooops did I just write that?  Anyhow, I was just curious what people were talking about in this thread since it seems like a great itinerary on an amazing ship.  Did I read they are charging $165 for Thrill Water Park!!??  That's insane!  We went to Coco Cay last May on Freedom, and thought $74 was a lot, jeez!  I was also wondering what Royal is charging for the drinks pkg and dining packages?  For those who booked this cruise early, what was the starting price for Thrill Water Park?
Just wanted to add Thrill Water Park was so worth it!  That Daredevil's Peak was INTENSE!!  It totally caught me off guard.  Hope you all have a wonderful cruise!

If you guys share status you will have status without the points. You won't get inheritance of her points but her level. 

Made the final decision this week, my girlfriend and I booked this cruise to celebrate our anniversary and her birthday!  This will be our 1st Alaska cruise.  Let the countdown begin!!

FWIW Ampurp85...you will never see me doing that.
BTW...AAron_Ross...my wife has gone to the MDR just to have the onion soup. My personal favorite is the wild mushroom soup. When there was a shortage of mushrooms on a couple of cruises, I mourned the lost opportunity to indulge. 

I believe it is only on cruises 6 nights and more.
We had it last night and it was delicious!  Very good sized too!  We had a plate of the tails brought to our table to share…because we also wanted the beef tenderloin and other selections.  The lobster was so sweet and plentiful!

@Aron_Ross, once a New Jerseyan/Yorker, always one! Yes, I have sailed on Anthem a couple of times, but not this itinerary. I am not vaccinated, so my options are limited. 

@Adriana New Jersey ah ok.  I grew in NYC living in Los Angeles for 15 years now.  I will always be an East Coaster at heart.  Visited Miami for the 1st time in May of this year to check out the city and sailed with Royal for the 1st time on Freedom of the Seas.  We really liked Miami but could never live there.  It's just way too hot for us!  My aunt lives in Jersey City not far from the port, is retired and sails Anthem and Oasis several times a year out of there.  It's possible she may even be on your Oct 29th sailing. 
Have you sailed on Anthem before and done that itinerary?  It looks cool except for the return trip, which I would imagine is not ideal (in terms of weather) heading north on those sea days.    

This is our first Southern Caribbean and I love it!
We have had gorgeous weather all week so far although we did catch a strong downpour yesterday morning in Aruba!  Torrential downpour!  But then it cleared up and was sunny and hot.  Another quick storm in late afternoon passed quickly too so for us it didn’t ruin any of our plans!  Today we are heading north and tomorrow we will be in Labadee.  Bright sunshine right now!
Our itinerary was changed around so we would miss Fiona and it has worked out perfectly!  Hope yours is just as awesome!

You should be able to see menus in the app already.

I hope so, my wife makes it her personal mission to impact the lobster population on lobster night.  🤣

My D+ sister, was also on Harmony in July, she said the lobster in the MDR were tiny and you could only get one. She anxiously awaited our cruise to find out if this was the new norm...we were going on Liberty...it was not. I am thinking there must have been a shortage/availability issue, on Harmony's supply during that time.

Wow...Looks like you are on the exact same (from Fort Lauderdale) day by day itinerary I will be sailing on Harmony in November.  Have you done this 8 night southern Caribbean itinerary before?  How has the cruise been so far?   52 days to go!!!

I am currently on Allure for 8 nights and lobster night is tomorrow which is day 6.  If you plan on dining at specialty restaurants you can look at dining in the Royal app to view menus for each night.  Or you can just ask the wait staff In the MDR to check on which night.

We ate in Jamie's on Anthem a couple of years ago on lobster night, not only did they serve us lobster but the chef created a special pasta dish to go with it, it was fabulous.

Thank you!! My next cruise is on Anthem on the 29th of October. I do try to be adventurous and being a Jersey girl and also having lived most of my adult like in South Beach (went to grad school at U of Miami) and loving to travel to NOLA, I have tried many different types of seafood, but yet have found anything I like. It has been more of going for a less dramatic reaction such as gagging and wanting to cry or throw up (seriously, so childish). I think I downed a full glass of wine the first time I had a gator po’ boy just to wash it out! 🙄 I will keep trying, though! 

Hi Adriana,
I would consider myself a person who likes seafood but does not love it.  There are just some things I will not eat.  I hated fish of any kind as a kid, but as an adult I have grown to like it.  My other half is a picky eater and not just with fish.  She will only eat fried shrimp and look, I get why people don't like fish believe me!  She once tasted a Mayan style fish near Cancun while we were on vacation, and to my surprise she loved it.  I can't recall the type of fish, but it was light and the seasoning was spectacular!  To her credit, last year she tasted and liked my fried Alligator bites in Tampa FL.  She was once curious about tasting my charbroiled Oysters in New Orleans as she saw how I was in pure bliss, then asked (with a look of concern) if it tasted like the ocean.  Unfortunately I said yes and advised against it.  She will gag if something doesn't taste right and didn't want that to happen in the restaurant.  Ha ha hopefully that story is not discouraging you. 
I'm just curious which ship are you sailing on?  By any chance would it be a ship that has Hooked Seafood?  I'm no expert on Royal and it's dining, but I think that one has steak.  Perhaps you can try some things there since you have the UDP?  Oh and by the way, if ever you have a chance to try the big fat sea scallops, give those a try.  I can eat those by the buckets...fried, steamed or seared!!