Sms

I found the pace of the meal to be too slow, but my biggest gripe was the pairing of the wine, and how they were really overselling $10 bottles as being very premium (the Mondavi was good, but even then a $50 retail bottle).

But Royal is clearly pulling away from anything premium in the wine space, the lack of a trained Somm being replaced with a guy with script, and pairings that not only didn’t work, but actually detracted from the meal.

We were set for this to be the highlight of the cruise meal experience, and it fell abysmally short.  The steak was the best steak we had on the cruise, and the Mondavi Cab worked well,  but the others… wow. We have the most New Zealand-y Savi Blanc ever… might as well just eaten aGrapefruit, but the worst part is it overwhelmed the fish.

Conceptually, a great idea.  But increasing poor execution.  Stick to Chops and Jaimes.

On 4/23/2022 at 1:46 PM, ChessE4 said:

Our ABC cruise in June was originally 4 ports including DR. Now just 3. I was disappointed at first, but I can't control Royal. I now have more sea days for dancing...vacations are about going with the flow. I guess that is why it's called cruising!?

And more usable days… the stop we lost in DR was really short, and we had to leave curaçao early just to make it…

not happy about another sea day, but happy to have more useable port stops…

I found that RC doesn’t communicate as well with me when I use a travel agent.  It’s sad, would take the same effort to include us on emails of specific interest to our cruise.  I found out about our itinerary changes in a board like this…

For a first timer, if not outrageous and If you need the internet, I’d say yes.  Basically you’re buying a bunch of benefits that as pointed out by cruisers with status, come free to them.

But as a new cruiser, it’s a great way to jump the queue and get the most out of your vacation.

On 4/7/2022 at 10:27 AM, Traveling Mike said:

I work while I am on my cruises.  In February I was on Symphony of the Seas and had the Surf and Stream.  I was able to FaceTime without a delay.  I also was able to stream videos, remote desktop and do Zoom Calls and Microsoft Team Meetings.  

I was on Symphony in Nov 2019 and felt the same way about the internet. Nothing like a WiFi work call poolside with drink in hand.  Just don’t forget to hit Mute.

I was looking at the app today for our June cruise, and this came up.  As I read it, the implication certainly implies the feature is free…

That said, if it isn’t, I still think the chat should be bundled in with either of the internet packages.

Watching…

Watching closely…. We are on the 18th sailing for Mariner like some of you.

I’ve seen rumors that they changed Explorer first becuase they have some affected sailings that are closer and once that settles they’ll do Mariner next.

im hoping that isn’t the case.  I don’t think we can switch to cayman without shorting Curaçao and having a really short stop in Cayman.  I feel if we are going to do an island, we need at least 8 hours there… but I’m not on RCIs ops team.

Conceptually sounds interesting.  In reality, I know I’d forget to hit the button after a few drinks in the sun.