jays2rc

As WAAAYTOOO said, 150CP has an adventurous menu focused on untraditional land animal (even, gamey) protein options, which may not be for everyone. I used the opportunity to have the duck. To my surprise, the breast was much more tender than the thigh. I agree about the service and ambiance. Chops by comparison feels casual and rushed; the staff at 150 take attentive service to a new level. They even brought out a birthday dessert for my youngest son, despite it not being his birthday, because he asked if the "Happy Birthday" sign was edible. If RC wants another premium dining option, I suggest a good seafood restaurant. I'd gladly pay a little more for king crab legs and Chilean sea bass.

We had lobster night in March on Allure of the Seas out of Galveston on a 7-night cruise. The only change was a $16.95 charge for additional lobsters.

I neglected to mention that we also booked the Sushi Making class on Day 3. It's covered pretty well on this blog post except the food and experience differed slightly. Our class started at 10 AM, so we skipped breakfast before heading to Izumi. The time feels really early for lunch; I think this is so they can finish the class and clean up before the lunch crowd rolls (ha!) in. It entails making two rolls (spicy tuna and shrimp tempura), 2 shrimp (ebi) nigiri, and what I think of as futomaki (hand roll). It's a ton of food, especially at 11 AM when it's time to eat your creation. Unlike what the blog post mentioned, there was no galley tour. (boo!) The class was one of the highlights of the cruise. Well worth the price despite the somewhat awkward scheduling. ETA: The description of the class indicates that sake is also served. Either because of the early time, or just general customer preference, they served champagne/mimosas to the adults instead. I don't care for sake anyway, but thought this might be a good heads up to those looking forward to having sake at 10:30 AM. ETA2: I'm realizing now that this picture looks about 10% as appetizing as the meal actually was. This was prior to cleaning up and adding eel sauce and spicy mayo to the rolls.

There are a few options here. I ordered the Chef's Selection of Sashimi along with the Champagne Lobster roll. It ended up being a good amount of food. Either the Sushi (nigiri) or sashimi combos are hearty options. He could also use both of his large orders to get the 8-piece roll he wants, and if someone at the table is fine with one "large plate" order (such as a hot bowl or some other larger option) they could order a 4-piece sushi roll on his behalf. Or, I suppose, you could just ask the waiter to bring out a full roll and have them charge whatever extra it costs. Also, I might be misremembering, but I thought the UDP allowed for $35 in a-la-carte ordering as well. I might be wrong here, but it's worth looking into.

Here's the menu from the second formal (aka "lobster") night.

We recently returned from the Allure of the Seas trip out of Galveston. I might make a review just on the ship/cruise experience itself (short version: it's nice but really needs to be Amped Up), but I wanted to share some impressions from a dining and beverage experience, having bought both the Unlimited Dining and Deluxe Beverage packages. Background: We've sailed as a couple and as a family on RC and MSC 7 times since 2017, with most cruises on Liberty and one on Independence. Deluxe Beverage package thoughts: It's amusing that every time we book a cruise, we tell ourselves that the drink package is ridiculously expensive (even on sale) and that we don't need to commit that much money up front, and we won't drink that much anyway. Then at the end of the cruise when I review our account to see we routinely drink coffee and two mimosas before 10 AM, it very quickly feels like a good deal. While we prefer beer over hard liquor during the day, we enjoy wine in the evening, and it's difficult to find an array of premium selections $14 or under by the glass in most bars. There is always a passable merlot, cab, and a malbec around the $12-$14 price point. RCL charges $14 per mimosa, which feels almost criminally expensive when paying by the glass. Vintages has many more options but quickly run into $20+ per glass. I believe Oberon pinot noir is $16 though, which might be worth it to some to pay the $2 premium. I also like being able to get two bottles of water whenever we needed. My wife prefers ice water onboard (which is saying something since she's sensitive to smell and taste in water) due to the ship's filtration systems being excellent. But asking for ice water usually results in receiving a bottle of water and maybe a glass of ice. It seems a little wasteful. Ultimate Dining Package: This package is a great deal as long as you know for sure you'll be eschewing MDR and Windjammer for your dinners and most lunches. Breakeven for the package on sale is just 3 dinners; we ate at a Specialty restaurant 6 nights for dinner and 3 times for lunch. We were familiar with the food so we knew what to expect (except for 51 Central Park), and overall it was a fantastic value. Some random dining thoughts: Booking: I tried to be proactive and book through the Royal app as soon as we boarded the ship. I noticed each booking on my calendar indicated a charge but assumed this would be zeroed out once the server closed the ticket. Fortunately, my wife pointed out that those reservations would end up charging us and that we needed to find an RCL dining services desk. This resulted in a 30-minute wait in line and 15 minutes of working with the RCL rep to get everything booked. This should really be bookable in the app to save everyone involved a lot of headaches. Izumi Hibachi - As others have pointed out, the hibachi tables are in short supply and high demand. We couldn't get a reservation before 9 PM for dinner nor any times for lunch. Around Day 3 we ventured down there early for dinner to ask for just 30 minutes at the sushi bar (I was jonesing for the champagne lobster roll!). The host said he couldn't seat us but to try back later. We returned a couple of times (8 PM and later), finally just asking for a To Go order... and, nope! They couldn't do that, either. Izumi Sushi dinner - We managed to get a Sushi dinner reservation on Day 6, which at that moment I hadn't considered it was the second formal "Lobster" night in MDR. More than any other meal, my son was looking forward to the lobster tails on Lobster night, so I called the Izumi host to ask if he could order lobster as a part of his dinner. His response: "We don't allow food from other restaurants," like I had just asked Olive Garden if I could bring food in from Maggiano's. It's all RCL! One other observation is the prix fixe menu now indicates each Large Plate selection from the rolls includes just 4 pieces. When my wife and I took a cruise on Independence over New Year's, we received a full 8-piece roll for each Large Plate selection. I admit 2 full rolls is quite a bit of food, but getting just 4 pieces seems like a cost cut move. MDR Lobster night: My son ate lightly at Izumi and we ventured over to MDR so he could "eat his weight in lobster." My son's enthusiasm deflated, though, when he saw the menu: MAINE LOBSTER TAIL - Additional lobster tail available for $16.99. As he said: "Oh no! They patched the infinite lobster glitch!" My wife and I ended up each ordering the lobster and giving him our tails. I admit I don't read every post in this forum, but this was the first I heard that RCL started charging for additional lobster tails, so it's something to keep in mind. Overall - Outside of Chops at 6 PM or the hibachi tables, we never saw completely full seating in the specialty restaurants. It's clear there is still a staffing/capacity issue that is artificially limiting not just reservations but food orders in general. We were also disappointed at the lack of accommodation. (First world problems, I know.) Our favorite meal generally is Giovanni's. They have the best filet and the pasta is incredible. We're now working off the "cruise weight" but overall enjoyed our vacation.

The Mrs. and I are going with our two sons, 12 and 13. After sailing Liberty for every spring break since 2017, we are definitely looking forward to an Oasis class ship! It's too bad it doesn't have water slides (yet).. but there are plenty of new and interesting activities to check out. We've booked every activity... and we like hanging out playing trivia, bingo, and watching karaoke. This will also be the first time we're foregoing the ultimate drink package. I certainly get my money's worth, but my wife gets drink fatigued on these 7-nighters, understandably. Still, I'm nervous that I'll be too cheap and worried about the sky-high drink prices the whole time. For another first, we have adjoining Central Park balcony rooms. The countdown is well underway!

We experienced the Royal Chef's Table for the first time over New Year's on a Freedom class ship. Our wines were different from the ones shown. The one that stood out was Conundrum white blend; some of the guests were excited about this one as it was apparently hard to find. (I saw these at Costco a few weeks ago for $17 a piece <shrug>) That being said, I enjoy just about any varietal of wine, so I was happy with the selection. We enjoyed the same menu as the one pictured. I love seafood and sushi/sashimi, but I didn't love the scallop carpaccio or lobster salad. The scallops were unpleasantly gelatinous; the lobster was just a little under-done. Just for jaw-dropping curiosity, I'd love to find out how many total calories comprise the courses. I would have been plenty satiated with just the bread, soup, and steak. Even keeping this in mind, enjoying just a few bites of bread and half the branzino, by the time the steak came out, I was already stuffed. Save room for dessert! We weren't quite prepared for how intimate and social the Chef's table is. It definitely helps to be in a sociable mood since you're seated together (for us, at a large round top). Between our rather social table, our talkative and fun host, and a glitch in the system that added time between courses, our dinner ran four hours long. By that time we'd used up our social energy. Definitely don't plan anything other than a late night show on the same evening! I wish they would mix up the menu annually; I'd go again for our Allure cruise in a few weeks if the menu were different.