Plan for the worst hope for the best Symphony September 4-18 21

[Traveler]

Hearing soon to Hibachi , what is the recommended cocktail there ?

[AshleyDillo]

11 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Hearing soon to Hibachi , what is the recommended cocktail there ?

She's a Geisha if you like sweet. Spicy Okinawa if you like spicy.

[Rags1]

29 minutes ago, AshleyDillo said:

She's a Geisha if you like sweet. Spicy Okinawa if you like spicy.

Or a Jack/7, which is perfect for any dining venu

[Traveler]

1 hour ago, AshleyDillo said:

She's a Geisha if you like sweet. Spicy Okinawa if you like spicy.

 

[JustMeJoe]

7 minutes ago, Traveler said:

 

I spent 3 years in Okinawa, Kadena, while in the USAF.  This one looks better than I ever saw before.  Cheers!!

[WAAAYTOOO]

1 hour ago, JustMeJoe said:

I spent 3 years in Okinawa, Kadena, while in the USAF.  This one looks better than I ever saw before.  Cheers!!

I was at Futenma (with ex-spouse) from 89-92.  I worked at Camp Lester 

[Luv2Travel]

6 hours ago, Traveler said:

Here are the channels is playmaker 

ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN, U and ESPN sec. Per what they said they have college football.

 

 

 

 

 

You are AWESOME, thank you so much!

[Traveler]

Good morning , now I know, genie can do anything. Greek salad for breakfast !

[Traveler]

Day8/1 .

Morning , 7:30 am it's the end of the cruise but beginning of the next one , mix feelings . Breakfast in Park Cafe and packing, now B2B needs to pack it all and can't leave things on the hanger or at least this is what we understood. Packing was quick and we went to the B2B location in one of the bars. 88 people are doing B2B so there was a small line , good that we came early as lines after that were much bigger  they did the vaccine verification (starnge as we wouldn't be on the ship if we weren't vaccinated already). I used the time to connect and check some emails , unfortunately it seems that I will need to do some candidate interviews this week. Around 10 they started to hand over the new cards, first cards we got was with different names which worried me but they re print it. Around 10:45 we were herd to the port with many unexplained stops until we brought to immigration which only took our photo. Next we had to wait for 20 minutes upstairs untill allowed back , Sunil wasn't any part of this process. Back to the ship we what's up again Sunil to let him know we are there and to ask when we expect the cabin to be ready. There was internet issue over the ship which can explain why Sunil was not available although we saw him running to the gangway I guess to bring one of his other guests. I saw the internet was still allowing using the old cabin which explained why there was an issue. Every new cruise they need to run end of cruise/start a cruise script to clean up leftovers and old users/password and do some changes in the database. I ask one of the internet representative to call IT and asked if they did or not. Not sure if it help but after 15 minutes it started to work well. We went to Jamie to eat lunch and wait for our cabin to be ready (we checked and it was not)

after lunch we checked the rooms again and got a lecture from one of the cabins attended that the cabins are only ready at 2 PM even if we just wanted to leave our backpacks. We went to tour the spa and gim 

At 2 PM we came again and finally we were allowed in. What a wonderful cabin 

Sunil came to say hello and check if everything is OK. We started our star experience.

 

 

[JustMeJoe]

Quote

15 hours ago, WAAAYTOOO said:

I was at Futenma (with ex-spouse) from 89-92.  I worked at Camp Lester 

 

As they say - small world.  We more than likely crossed paths.  Was there from 88-91.

[Bmederson]

Does that mean Jamie’s is open for lunch on embarkation day? Or is it just because you are doing a B2B cruise?
 

(Thanks for you posts…we go on our first Symphony cruise in a few weeks!)

[barbeyg]

Between @Tiffeven and your experience, seems like they need to work on the star experience a bit for boarding and/or beginning a new week. 
 

Ah well. All that is behind you now, and it should be smooth sailing going forward! Have a great week!

[Lovetocruise2002]

29 minutes ago, barbeyg said:

Between @Tiffeven and your experience, seems like they need to work on the star experience a bit for boarding and/or beginning a new week. 

As frustrating as it is, there are things that might be beyond Royal's control.  Some of that could be inefficiency on the port/terminal side.  They don't always sync up (even pre-covid).  I am sure that covid protocols throws them further off sync.

[griffinjam22]

Curious, how many passengers on board? Also, I would love this balcony. How fun! Thanks for sharing your experience 

[Traveler]

2 hours ago, griffinjam22 said:

Curious, how many passengers on board? Also, I would love this balcony. How fun! Thanks for sharing your experience 

I think around 1800 but it feels more crowded than the last week cruise.

[Traveler]

Day 1 evening .

Befor dinner at 7 pm there was a moment of sit to memorize the 09/11 victims.

I think it was touching and very appropriate.

We had Hibachi dinner plans and we started to work on our appetit as it's allot of food. Sunil was waiting for is there to complete the evening planning. We started with she's geisha per the recommends we got here and it was very good,

thank you. I also tried the spicy drink which also good. The chef show was funy and with one or two new tricks . Food was excellent , we went with the beef that was very tender. We had almost full table and it was allot of fun.

As always it was more food we could handle . We had plans to see Hero from our balcony ,Sunil sent us  few wine glasses and cold cuts/cheese plate to enjoy with the show which was a nice touch. 

Some random observation:

Ship feels more crowded than last week. 

Casino was busy with allot of winners (first nights lucky people ) 

The population seems younger than last cruise.

Overall nice first cruise day.

 

 

 

 

 

[ellcee]

Love waking up and reading everyone's cruise blogs!

I spy paddle boards on Coco Cay - this makes me very happy. 

[Traveler]

 

Does that mean Jamie’s is open for lunch on embarkation day? Or is it just because you are doing a B2B cruise?
 

(Thanks for you posts…we go on our first Symphony cruise in a few weeks!)

Jamie was opened for lunch for everyone during embarkation.

[Traveler]

 

Love waking up and reading everyone's cruise blogs!

I spy paddle boards on Coco Cay - this makes me very happy. 

Yes , you can rent paddles boards and the sea has a perfect condition for it.

[Traveler]

To summarize day one embarkation, the port stuff for the genie

[Traveler]

Day 2

Day two was our first sea day , breakfast was at our humble balcony and we got what we order and were happy with it (although maybe we should have been more specific about the fresh tomatoes juice as it was with out anything added) we learned very fast two important things about heaving a genie . First not to be shy and ask what you want. Second be specific , but that already discussed on the other blog .

We tour the ship and it seem a bit more crowded than last week , bit maybe it's only my feeling. For lunch went to Izumi , the sea weed salad is always good and light bit we keep forgetting the huge size of the roles

 

 

[Traveler]

C19 ? A remote memory...

 

[Traveler]

HiDay 2 leftovers.

After the Izumi experience we had to take a rest so we did that . We went to check the on board stores , at least the duty free one to search for alcohol deals , we found some two ce whisky bottle for a good price which we will get at the end of the cruise . Dinners was at Chop's , we had some bad experience with this restaurant (mainly due to a bad waiter) but we said we will give it a try. Sunil was there to makes sure everything will go OK .In the way in we met @Tiffeven and all the kids ,it's actually the first people from RCB we ever met . Who knows maybe we will organize some unofficial RCB meeting here. We took the goat cheese salad, the filet mignon and a lobster bisque plus some .

 

That was accompany with the signature cocktail , some vodka red bull (apologize to the bar, we were tired) and nice Australian red wine. We got an apple pie for dessert. One comment regarding Chop's , this is the only resturant so far which prepare the meat exactly the way you order it. Everything was good. 

 

 

 

 

[Luv2Travel]

You're making me so hungry, but I love the pics and review - Thank You!!

Questions for you, please:

1. Are the "Formal" (aka dress your best) nights on the Eastern cruise still on the 2nd and 6th night?
2. Has "Love & Marriage" or the "Belly Flop Contest" made any appearances in the Cruise Compass?

[ellcee]

I do not see raisins in the apple pie. Good.

[Traveler]

 

You're making me so hungry, but I love the pics and review - Thank You!!

Questions for you, please:

1. Are the "Formal" (aka dress your best) nights on the Eastern cruise still on the 2nd and 6th night?
2. Has "Love & Marriage" or the "Belly Flop Contest" made any appearances in the Cruise Compass?

Thanks

Yes formal nights are on day 2 and 6

For now no Love and marriage nor belly flop contest or even quest .

[Traveler]

A friend ask , can a genie organize a jackpot or a straight flush at the three card table ?

[Tiffeven]

14 hours ago, Traveler said:

In the way in we met @Tiffeven and all the kids ,it's actually the first people from RCB we ever met . 

It was very nice meeting you.  We've only met two people from RCB so far: you and @AshleyDillo.  It is so neat reading someone's blog, and then running into them onboard.

[Traveler]

Day 3: 

This was another sea day with the regular breakfast in the balcony this time I swap my espresso with  latte as the espresso comes too  cold. The juice of the day was carrot with ginger. At the morning I had to work , I had to do some candidates interviews  using video call which mean I had to shave in my vacation morning. The video call went well the Voom supporting it nicely. Post the call I had to connect to some customer site but there was some issues with my two way authentication so had to spend another hour with the support. Thought maybe to ask Sunil to take care  of it (he is a genie after all) but just the thought of heaving RCL IT near my laptop gave me the chills. During the time I had to work , my spouse went to catch some sun and bring up the steps count (our excuse for eating so much and feel it's OK) finally the  issue got resolved  and I could continue enjoying the vacation for now. We went to watch the flow rider and visit the solarium as it was started to be cloudy. Although not so hungry (comma food alert) we went to  playmaker , our waiter suggested for us to seat outside which we kindly declined as we saw the clouds. Yap we had the same waiter @Tiffeven got , I asked for draft beer got a can , we asked for some silverware we got them 15 minutes later. Anyway we ordered the nachos which were very good , some chicken tenders and the onion rings as it looks good in the pictures .

It started to rain outside very hard and after few minutes it's statrted to rain on our table ,let's just say I hope the people that built the playmaker roof did not design the ship haull

I did not ask to fill my cup, thank you.

We moved to another table while waiting for the campfire cookie which took 20 minutes to come , we should have asked for it at the beginning of the meal , the cookie was awesome. It continue to rain for a while so we went to contribute for you RCL revenue and catch some rest later. We later went to Harry Potter trivia , wow I did not know so many Harry Potter fans are on the ship most of them  are far from being childrens , the place was packed. Apparently it's not enough to visit Universal and ride the different attractions  in Harry Potter world to be able and answer most of the questions.  We did not want to go to any restaurant so we asked Sunil to bring us few salads and we got the sea weed salad from Izumi and some goat cheese salad. After the light dinner we went to see the ice show, it was great to be able and come at the last minute and enjoy the show from the best seats , the show as always was excellent, I just always worries the drones will decide one day that they had enough and will go into the crowd  (mmm , she'll I add any RCL IT joke here , naaa I think we had enough for one post). 

Post the ice show we went to check if  we are missing anything around the ship to pass some time before going to the silent party Hush !. It was packed but anyone who wanted could get inn and grab the headphones. It was funny to see how everyone sync to the same channel after a minute or so. It was also fun to take off the headphones from time to time just to hear how it's sounds without them. So we took some drinks ( must for me before dancing) and dance although most of the time I was busy to make sure my spouse is not taken a video of me so I will be another  family dinner main joke and yes she tried.

[Traveler]

Day 4 - St Martin.

Today we got to our first port. The weather refuse to cooperate even when I waved our card at it , I guess it's color blind. We started with our breakfast outside but few moments after the rain and the wind started so I grabbed the tray and tried to run inside , results was my poor mimosa shattered on the balcony floor. 

Later we heard more noises of falling plates and other things , I thought we left something on the balcony but it was our neighbors from upstairs. Near us the old Grandeur of the seas was docking and there were doing some maintenance on it. She looked very rusty and sad, I think Royal should not dock a vision class side by side with Oasis class , make me think about our  Rhapsody cruise next year , is it really the right thing

We had a late shore excursion so my spouse organized with Sunil some spa treatment which she said that  was very good , I stayed a while in the cabin working and later went to check how is the Starbucks today. By the way , it seems RCL have some agreement with the island government and the Casino was opened during the full day. For lunch we asked Sunil if there is any Thai food and he said he will organize something so we got to our room a TomKha soup (which was some spicy soup but not a TomKah) a green curry dish which was good and some cooked vegetables . It was nice meal.

We then went to the peer to join our shore excursion which was the afternoon Oriental beach . Weather was still cloudy but at least the rain stopped. After 20 minutes ride we got to the beach , we got our beach chairs and the guide opened a rum pounce station , which had Rum , some juice , ice and lots of glasses , you could drink as much as you wanted. It was not a real good day for swarming so we stayed and rest  untill we decided to take a long stroll on the beach which was nice. The sand is very soft near the water and every step we took  we left a big foot print , I still do not know if it's the sand or it's the B2B endless food , I voted for the sand.

After few hours we got back to the port, guess what , at the minute the buss entered the port the sun came out and it became a lovely day.

We got back to our cabin to get organized for dinner. Today our dinner was in Hooked which I think is an hidden RCL gem hide ubder the shade of Chop's. We had a very good waiter name May and we started with some bred , shrimp cocktail and fresh oysters. That followed with some salads , captain plate and surf and turf.

Everything was very good including one vodka oyster shoot I ordered. So far I think it was our favorite. 

 

 

[Traveler]

The corridor on the deck has some bad smell , they took care of it for few days but it came back . I suspect it their C19 detecting system , of you are not complaining about the smell they are sending you to be tested.

 

 

[Traveler]

A good way to start the day

[WAAAYTOOO]

10 minutes ago, Traveler said:

A good way to start the day

Congratulations !

[Dimension]

15 minutes ago, Traveler said:

A good way to start the day

No kidding! I wish my day started like yours.

[Aulayan]

Congratulations! Though this does not feed RCL's coffers at all!

[Traveler]

Guess where we are finally ?

[Marlena]

8 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Guess where we are finally ?

150 CP. The urban garden martini….my favourite!

[Traveler]

Day 5 St Thomas.

We arrived around 7 to the Island, not that we planned to be up so early but still. After breakfast on the balcony (from day 4 they started to enter and prepare the table by themselves) we went to walk around the ship (always enjoyable during port day) we did not had any special plans so we just went down to the port. There we met with the king of the pier , he was walking around dominating the area , taking photos with everyone that wanted . I thought he will ask soon for a tip 

He had many friends around  enjoying the sun

Later we just jumped on one of the taxi to downtown which cost 4 dollars per person per each way. We strolled around main street until we decided to head back to the ship. Near the port I spotted a supermarket and a pharmacy so we decided to split and I went to buy some razors and some of the counter medicine I needed. The pharmacy and the supermarket are around 5 to 10 minutes walking from the port. Coming back to the ship I got a  message from my spouse if I can go and grab some drinks for her. Coming back to the cabin I saw that 

Although a week or so delay but it was nice surprise. Sunil came to hang some decorations and did a good job , he also brought a cake. 

 

And no , it's jus a coincidence we are not copying from our upper deck neighbors . 

Late lunch was in WJ which was good. Post lunch I had to work again but we still had time to rest and enjoy the rain and the cake. We had some more visitors that wanted to check our balcony.

We had dinner plans at  wonderland , it's our fourth time in wonderland (if you counting the one in Spectrum which was totally different) so no surprises but it still fun and the drinks are very good. 

Sunil came to say hello and brought a friend 

And how can we do without the famous dessert

The second cake was waiting for me back at the cabin , but with  only one plate , how can I share it like that ?

We than headed to the casino were we had a nice chat with the  @Tiffeven

Which we also saw in wonderland , I think Sunil is making his schedule easier by need to be in only one place at a time. We had plans to go to check out red the experience but at the end we both were too tired and called it for the day.

[Traveler]

Day 6 - sea day. 

I love sea days , no need to plan too much , no need to rush to anything. We had breakfast (we replaced the eggs Benedict with Mexican eggs) and started our morning walking in the promenade which was quite empty considering they were doing the two T shirts in 20$ and all the other once in in a lifetime sells that happens in every cruise. We went to deck 15/16 but it was a very warm day so we got back to the aircondition. Later we went to the Casino ready to spend some more money but that time we hit one of the  jackpots , it was very surprising as until now it was not going that well we left so we can enjoy the win and to put the money in the safe (well at least some of it) do you think the genie was listening to my previous request for a jackpot ? And if yes , here another example that you need to be specific with genie request and ask for mega jackpot but not complaining. Lunch was again in WJ we did not feel like going and spend an hour in one of the resturants. We went to the Symphony trivia , I must say we did quite OK although I still claim G muster station is in boardwalk and not in the aqua theater , there were people that knew much better than us. Next we went to do something we never done it riding the rising bar. We were the only one and it was fun , it also brought us to our deck just in time for our nap.  

Dinner was at 150 , this was our first time there and it was enjoyable, but once again , too much food. We took the beetroot salad , short rib , Cesar salad and lobster. For dessert we took the famous fried cheese cake 

 

Short rib

 

 

Lobster

 

 

Beetroot salad

Cheese cake

Coming back to the room we had a new friend waiting for us

Later we went to see the ice show 2.0 which was , as always fun.

 

 

 

[MamaShark]

@traveler your B2B looks/sounds glorious complete with guilty  pleasure of doing nothing, or simply calling it a day and getting some rest! Now if we can only slay the week #2 food coma… so we can continue to devour more tempting food and drinks!  Enjoy enjoy!