Hey everyone! Episode 29 of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast is now available for your listening pleasure.

This week, Matt is back from his latest Royal Caribbean cruise on Navigator of the Seas and is sharing everything about his experience onboard this newly refurbished ship.  From what's new on the ship to the dining to the ports of call, this episode is full of details from Matt's cruise experience.

Here’s the podcast page for Episode 29. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast via RSS or on iTunes!

Take a listen and as always, let us know what you think! Please rate and review the podcast on iTunes and leave your comments below!

Royal Caribbean has signed a contract with Mobimar to add the FlowRider surf simulator to Voyager of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas.  

Mobimar, a construction firm in Finland, also was contracted to add the FlowRider to Navigator of the Seas, which it already completed.

The FlowRiders will be installed on Voyager of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas later this year, with no specific date.  Voyager of the Seas is scheduled for a refurbishment in May 2014 and Explorer of the Seas will have her refurbishment in February 2015.

Each Flowrider module contains the surrounding stands, canopies, lights, water treatment system, Hi-Fog system, piping and cabling connections to the ship. The installation of each module requires approximately 30 days with minor advance preparation prior to entry into drydock.

Mobimar has been Royal Caribbean's partner for installing FlowRiders on its cruise ships since 2004 when it added them to Freedom of the Seas.  Mobimar is also working currently to add a FlowRider to Quantum of the Seas.

Tip of the hat to CruiseCurrents for the news.

Royal Caribbean has added two roundtrip cruises out of the port of Los Angeles, California, which marks the cruise line's return to the west coast after a number of years absence.

Jewel of the Seas will offer 7-night cruises on September 26 and October 03, 2015.

The cruises will visit the ports of Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Monterey and Ensenada, Mexico.  The stop at San Francisco will be overnight.

The news confirms a report we posted back in December of a possible return to the west coast for Royal Caribbean.

Royal Caribbean hasn't had a cruise ship based out of Los Angeles since 2010 when Mariner of the Seas left due to violence in Mexico.

Royal Caribbean and Meyer Werft have joined forces again to build Quantum of the Seas & Anthem of the Seas. This collaborative partnership has led to new levels in shipbuilding.

Royal Caribbean has released its 2015 Caribbean summer itineraries, including which ship will replace Allure of the Seas out of Port Everglades when she goes to Europe.

Independence of the Seas will be ported in Port Everglades after she crosses the Atlantic in May 2015, returning for its first summer of Caribbean cruises.

Royal Caribbean had announced earlier that it is sending Allure of the Seas to Europe for a summer season in 2015.

Independence of the Seas will offer eastern and western Caribbean itinaries on alternate weeks.  This includes stops in Falmouth, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Labadee for the western Caribbean.  In the eastern Caribbean, she will visit San Juan, St. Maarten and St. Kitts.

Oasis of the Seas, will continue sailing out of Fort Lauderdale as well, with Freedom of the Seas remaining in Port Canaveral.  Both ships will offer 7 night eastern and western Caribbean itineraries.

Grandeur of the Seas will remain in Baltimore and offer alternate Bermuda and Canada/New England cruises.

Brilliance of the Seas will sail out of Boston and offer Canada/New England cruises.

Serenade of the Seas will offer 10- to 14-night fall foliage cruises back and forth between Bayonne, N.J., and Quebec City.

Lastly, Liberty of the Seas will sail out of Galveston, Texas to replace Navigator of the Seas.

The newest specialty restaurant to be added to Royal Caribbean's fleet is Sabor Modern Mexican, described as a contemporary twist on traditional Mexican food. 

Sabor first debuted on Navigator of the Seas in February 2014 and we had a chance to try her our to see what exactly "modern Mexican food" really is.  The short answer is it means amazing food.

Atmosphere

Located on deck 4 of Navigator of the Seas, Sabor is in the former Dungeon nightclub.  Unlike any of the other specialty restaurants on Navigator of the Seas, there are no windows to the sea so its a dark establishment with lots of red, yellow and brown colors around you.

It looks like the designers wanted a chic look, so the decor in Sabor is definitely not like your favorite Tex-Mex place down the street.  No maracas, sombreros or cactus' here.

When you walk into Sabor, you will see the restaurant is divided length wise by a divider, with the section farthest from you the longest.  It's not a giant restaurant but certainly not the smallest specialty restaurant either. 

The modern look is what Sabor emphasizes and we found the atmosphere eating in Sabor to be like that of a new restaurant that opened up that everyone is talking about.

Eats

Once you're seated in Sabor, you get the usual menu but one of the complimentary things you will receive is guacamole made right at your table.  

A waiter brings a cart of ingredients around the restaurant and stops eat each table to explain how guacamole is made and shows you as he/she does it right in front of you.

The output is some of the best guacamole I've ever eaten.  Combined with the chips that are also freshly made (I could see the oil on them from the creation process), it's really quite tasty.  

Part of what Sabor tries to do with modern Mexican food is to make sure everything you order is made fresh.  There's a large emphasis placed on how fresh the food is and any foodie will tell you fresh food always tastes the best.

There's also freshly made salsa available as well that is complimentary and it too was quite good.  I'm a salsa fanatic and for me, there is no such thing as too much salsa.  The salsa I sampled was terrific and like the guacamole, some of the best I've ever had perhaps.

Speaking of food made at your table, Sabor also features two margaritas that if ordered can be created at your table as well for $12 each. There's a margarita cart that will come around to create either the sweet and spice margarita or the Sabor Grand Margarita. 

There are a number of other margaritas available, although they are not made at your table.  Just like the guacamole cart, the margarita waiter explains how the drink is created and pours it for you on the spot. Once again, a very tasty margarita albeit an expensive one.

Sabor also features a number of tequilas and tequila flights to choose and if you enjoy a good tequila, there's no question this is the place onboard your Royal Caribbean ship to sample one.  Unfortunately there isn't a way to have a tequila or three without going to the restaurant and paying the cover charge.

Moving onto the food, there's a lot to choose from the menu.  Like most specialty restaurants on Royal Caribbean ships, you can choose as many dishes as you care to order.

The menu offers some traditional Mexican items like tacos and burritos as well as "platos fuertes", which are more authentic Mexican fare.

Assuming you did not fill up on the guacamole and salsa earlier, there are a number of appetizers to consider.  We tried the Queso Fundido, Oaxacan Ceviche of Red Snapper and Sopa de Tortilla.

The queso fundido is your typical cheese dip with a myriad of vegetables mixed into a block of Mexican cheese that is melted down.  Perfect for dipping chips in, the queso was above average what you may find at a Moe's or Chevy's.  

The ceviche was a small serving of fish and fruit and once again, you could taste the freshness of both.  It was light and quite tasty. I think it's a good sign when the reviewer finishes the entire dish alone, and this was the case with the ceviche.

Also unusual was the tortilla soup.  I've had a lot of tortilla soup in my day and this was by far not your typical tortilla soup.  

I felt it was more like Mexican minestrone soup to some degree but aside from its appearance, it was really quite tasty.  It was one of those dishes that is so different than what I'm used to that it's hard to compare but the bottom line is it was good.

By the time you get to your entrees, you might be getting full.  We had to force ourselves to stop eating the guacamole and salsa to save room for our main courses.

Our waiter recommended the chicken and roasted corn empanada and give that I wanted to try something other than a taco, this sounded great. 

The empanadas are fried chicken and corn in a green mole and peanut sauce.  The menu says spicy but I didn't find it spicy at all.  A little kick but nothing I'd warn anyone about.

The empanadas reminded me of a Spring roll that you might find at a Chinese or Thai restaurant.  It was a small dish and definitely something different than what I've ever had. Still, it was quite good and with a little leftover salsa that I put on top, I found this to be really good.

My wife ordered the tres quesos quesadilla, which came out just like she wanted.  I found them a little bland on their own but when dipped in the provided salsa (or dip it in the guacamole), it was a big hit.

Of course there are also side dishes that are really meant to be shared family style with everyone at the table.  

Yuca fries were interesting, reminding me a lot of plantains.  The calabacitas (zucchinim roasted poblano pepper corn, black beans) sounded better than they tasted.  I was trying to be adventurous but I think simple Mexican rice would have been a better choice.

Did we mention dessert yet? If you manage to save room, the good news is Sabor made the dessert ordering decision for you because each table gets an assortment of desserts to share.

I think the shared dessert idea is great because most often in my experience, desserts are something you want to share and something you rarely finish on your own.  Everyone raved about the chocolate banana empanadas, which I enjoyed too despite my aversion to cooked bananas.

Overall

Let me be blunt: Sabor was my best meal I've ever had on a Royal Caribbean cruise. Period.

The quality and taste of the food blew us away and I think it's going to be a massive hit.  In just the two cruises Sabor has been open, the staff at Sabor reported they've been busy every night with customers and I think it makes perfect sense.

The cost is $25 per person, and I've read plenty of people who think it's too high for Mexican.  I think you can easily get your moneys worth and if I had to pick a Royal Caribbean specialty restaurant to eat at tonight, it would be Sabor. The freshly made food really stands out and the quality of the food was impressive.

Sabor is one of the initiatives of Royal Caribbean's new head of food and it along with the new Chops menu is part of the new wave of restaurant choices coming to ships.  If Sabor does well, you can expect it to be added to other Royal Caribbean ships, most notably Quantum of the Seas.

I was quite impressed with my meal at Sabor and for the rest of the cruise, we wished there was an option to eat at Sabor for just the guacamole and chips or the drinks.  To me that says a lot when you want to go back again that quickly.

Sabor Modern Mexican is open for dinner between 6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. and we reviewed Sabor Modern Mexican aboard Navigator of the Seas.

Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas made her first stop ever at Laem Chabang in Thailand, according to TravelDailyNews.

Mariner of the Seas arrived yesterday and stayed overnight in port and will depart today, February 18.  She is on a 7-night cruise from Singapore which will also call at Ho Chi Minh City. 

As part of the tradition when a cruise ship visits a port for the first time, plaque exchanges were conducted between LT. Sutthinan Hatthawong, Managing Director of Laem Chabang Port and Captain Flemming Nielsen of Mariner of the Seas onboard to commemorate the ship’s maiden call in Laem Chabang.  

Royal Caribbean Executive Vice President of Operations Lisa Lutoff-Perlo hinted in a blog post a couple of dining options making their debut first on Navigator of the Seas that we can expect to see on Royal Caribbean's brand new ship, Quantum of the Seas.

Lutoff-Perlo writes, "Meanwhile, Navigator of the Seas’ guests will be the first to get a sneak peek of some of the dining options making their debut on Quantum of the Seas this fall.  Guests on board Navigator will be among the first to enjoy the fully revamped Chops Grille: The New American Steakhouse, featuring traditional steakhouse offerings with a contemporary flair.  Chops Grille on Navigator of the Seas will showcase brand new selections, such as the Veal Chop Parmesan and a Slow-braised Short Rib of Beef with Bordelaise sauce."

Royal Caribbean has been quiet regarding the dining choices coming to Quantum of the Seas and this is the first indication that we will likely see Chops Grille onboard and its new menu.  

Chops Grille has been a staple of Royal Caribbean cruise ships fleetwide, so it's inclusion on Quantum of the Seas is hardly a surprise but one more piece in the puzzle for guests trying to get a sense of everything that will be on the new ship.

Today was our last day and I wish I had a lot to report to you but I spent most of the day either sleeping, eating or lounging.  There's nothing wrong any of that but I think the events of the last 7+ days finally caught up with me.

We slept in, or as parents with young children call it, sleeping until our kid woke us up.  So about 9am we all got up and started getting ready and made it up to the Windjammer closer to 10am.

With such a late start, it didn't make sense to bring my daughter to Adventure Ocean because today the morning session ended at 11am.  So we roamed the ship, taking a walk on deck 4, the Royal Promenade and the pool deck.

Lunch came around again so we had a quick bite to eat in the Windjammer, which was actually my first time this cruise eating lunch in the Windjammer.  That is really odd for me.

After lunch, my daughter took her nap so I went up to the pool deck to lounge.  It was one of those weather days where in the shade it was cold but in the sun it was hot.  So I managed to snag a chair in the Solarium that had my legs in the sun and put a towel over my legs so I could warm up without getting sunburned.

I took my first of many naps here and eventually woke up to go downstairs to gather the troops.  My daughter was still asleep so I took the opportunity to take yet another nap.

When my daughter woke up, I woke up too and took her to Adventure Ocean for the afternoon session.  Then my wife and I took a short walk and then decided to start packing now rather than leaving it to the end. Packing the night before your cruise ends is the second worst feeling ever (with the last day and leaving the ship being the worst feeling). 

Since I really didn't do much to report on, I wanted to share my overall thoughts of the cruise and some observations that may benefit others looking to take this cruise eventually and/or a cruise out of Galveston.

It's an older crowd. Much older crowd.

On our cruise, the vast majority of cruisers were people at least 50 years old or older.  And emphasis on older.  

If you're younger, that may or may not be a problem.  I'm not someone who needs to make dozens of new friends on a cruise to have a good time.  And there are advantages of cruising with older people, namely older people don't care nearly as much about getting a chair on the pool deck, so chair hog issues weren't much of an issue.

The downside to cruising with older people is the elevator situation is worse than usual.  I don't judge people if they take the elevator instead of the stairs but it just felt like the elevators were more crowded than usual.

We were also cruising during a time of year when kids are in school so not a lot of school-age children here, which may have contributed to the older crowd.

Hope you like country western music

By far, a majority of the live music and even recorded music played across the ship was country western music.  

I'm talking Glen Campbell, Alan Jackson and the sort of old-timey country western songs.  Heck, even in the bars in ports they were playing country western because the vendors knew the people on the ship want that and not Miley Cyrus.

At first I didn't really mind the music, but about half way through the cruise I really wanted something different.  Events like "Name this tune", "dance it if you know it" and others were predominately country western.  The only place that did not play country western was the Cosmopolitan Club on Deck 14.  

Forward cabins: the good and bad

As you may know, we had booked cabin 6500, a family oceanview stateroom all the way forward.  Looking back on it there was good and bad to it.

The good is the amount of space we got.  It's insane how much space we had in the stateroom and my daughter having her own room was very nice.  To get a similar amount of space in a different kind of cabin would have required a suite of some sort.

The bad is the motion.  I can't tell you how many times I'd be somewhere on the ship and feel little to no movement only to get back to the room and feel like I'm on a turbulent airplane ride.  My wife didn't feel the effect nearly as much as I did and thinks I'm too sensitive.

One thing we can both agree with about the room is the random noise that occurs. The room is close to the crew relaxation area near the bow of the ship and you will often hear a loud bang or clang sound.  It's enough to wake you up at odd hours of the night.  I'm not sure it's that big a deal but worth noting.

The renovations make a big difference

There aren't many ships left in Royal Caribbean's fleet that aren't refurbished but I cannot imagine cruising on any of the "old" ones now.  The upgrades to Navigator are unbelievable.  It's made the ship so much better and appealing.

The new paint, furniture, restaurants and more all make this ship feel like it's brand new (again). Regardless of if it's Navigator or some other revitalized Royal Caribbean ship, do yourself a favor and stick with the upgraded ships for now.

The internet is still ship internet

The internet WiFi connection is ship-wide, which is nice, and there are two unlimited internet plans, which is great but the speeds are still the kind of speeds you expect to get at sea.

I'm not 100% certain if the 11ac network upgrades we posted about previously have been implemented but as it is today, the ship internet works in bursts, with nothing for a second or two and then a lot coming in, and then more waiting and then another burst of download.

For using the internet for Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, it's great.  I can post photos, update timelines and other common social media functions quickly. But booting up the laptop and going surfing still has noticable delays.  

Still, if I were going back on Navigator fo the Seas next week I would buy the unlimited plan again for the ability to use it whenever I want and stay connected with friends and family.  I mean, how else can I send them photos of the pool deck while they are stuck in snow?

Everyone is from Texas!

Or Oklahoma, Lousiana or Kansas.  But when you tell someone you're from New York (or anywhere north of the Mason-Dixon line) they look at you like you are crazy for having booked this cruise.

Most often they ask why we booked the cruise.  It's fine and all but again it feeds into the first two observations I made of an older cruising age and the country western music thing.

Fog!

You may remember from earlier this cruise when we were delayed about 7-8 hours because of fog getting onboard.  If you are cruising out of Galveston in the winter, keep in mind it happens. 

Unfortunately fog is out of your hands, so my advice is fly in a day before and enjoy what Galveston has to offer if you are delayed.

Adventure Ocean is wonderful

My daughter had a blast there and every time we picked her up she was having the time of your life and often cried when we told her she had to leave.  To me, there is no more ringing endorsement.

As a parent, it was great having 5-6 hours a day to ourselves and it made a huge difference for me and my wife's ability to have as good a time as we had. I would not hesitate to recommend bringing your kids to Adventure Ocean, especially on the revitalized ships.

I love the R-Bar

Maybe it's the retro-cool furniture or maybe it's fact it's new to me, but the R-Bar quikly became my favorite place to grab a drink onboard Navigator of the Seas.

What's especially neat about R-Bar is the bartending staff really know their stuff.  Forget the drink menu, just tell them sort of liquor or juice you like and they will make up a drink based on that.  I have yet to see this fail.

I still love cruising with Royal Caribbean

'Nuff said.

Today we are in one of my favorite ports to visit in the Caribbean, Cozumel, Mexico!  What I like about Cozumel is it offers a lot to choose from and in terms of the port being able to support cruisers well, there's a lot of great infrastructure.

We were docked in Cozumel at 7am but we decided to sleep in today make up for getting up early the day before and hoping to wait out the masses leaving.  

Navigator of the Seas was hardly the only ship in port.  We were across the dock from Allure of the Seas and there were two Norwegian ships (Epic and Dawn) at the other dock in town along with the Carnival Sunshine.

As per usual we had breakfast in the Windjammer but after breakfast we were going to do something different and leave our daughter at the kids club while we left the ship.  My wife suggested it the other day because we were planning a day in Cozumel with shopping and walking, two things that my daughter doesn't deal well with.  Plus, my daughter's acclimation to Adventure Ocean made it an easier decision knowing she was going to enjoy it.

So we dropped her off, when at the time she was the only one there although later more kids did show up (only 4-5 total).

We disembarked from Navigator of the Seas and walked into the port area, which was packed.  Also, the port has become a maze (on purpose) to try to get out of. I've been to Cozumel at least 4 times and I had trouble finding the exit to the street.

We made a bee-line through the port shops and out to the street only to find a gargantuan line for taxis! I called an audible and grabbed my wife and we exited the port area, walking about 30 feet up the street and nabbed a taxi waiting at the El Cid hotel next door.  No wait and we were on our way!

Our basic plan was to do shopping and eating, with emphasis on eating.  We love good Mexican food and over the years we have come to really enjoy Cozumel's authentic Mexican food.  

Our driver dropped us off somewhere we'd never been, well into town.  There was a detour on the main road but I told him in my terrible spanish "Center mercado", which may have contributed to it.  Regardless, we were dropped off right in front of an amazing open air restaurant and instantly regretted having a full breakfast onboard. I vowed to my wife next time in Cozumel we would skip eating breakfast onboard.

We walked through town, turning down various streets to see what they have to sell.  We didn't have anything in mind to buy, we just like window shopping.  

My advice for anyone shopping in Cozumel is get off the main street and do your shopping on the side streets two to three blocks from the main street.  It's far less crowded and the prices are better in my experience.  

We did stop when we came across my favorite bakery in Cozumel.  We had been here a few times before after also stumbling upon it.  They sell fresh baked breads, croissants and rolls of all kinds for pennies. You just grab a large metal saucer and tongs and then place what you want on the saucer, give it to the person behind the counter and wait for them to tell you how much.  I think we paid $3 for two rolls and a bottle of water. So worth it!

It was time for our first food, which was a stop at the Chocolateria Isla Bella.  It's a chocolatier I found on TripAdvisor that was insanely high rated.  After a bit of searching, we found it and walked into a small store and greeted by two American ex-pats.  These women live in Cozumel, one living in Mexico for almost 25 years.

They had a wide assortment of chocolates to choose from such as guava, white chooclate, nutella, peanut butter, coffee and more. The owner offered us a few samples as well and we picked up a half dozen chocolates for $8.  Taking them outside would risk it melting, so we had "no choice" but to eat them there.

You could tell quickly why Chocolateria Isla Bella was so highly rated.  Once again, freshness made a difference because I watched the other woman pounding cocoa into chocolate and there wasn't anything we bought that wasn't very good.

Back to shopping we wandered some more and something caught my eye, which was a Mexican/Spanish style dish that I thought looked nice. My wife and I looked over the wares and decided on a nice looking spoon rest and split dish.  

We haggled with the owners, like any good shopper in Cozumel should, and got them down from their asking price.  I don't think I got the rock-bottom price that perhaps I could but I thought it was a fair deal and bought it.

We came across an internet cafe next and jumped in to use their wifi.  Two devices on their wifi for about an hour, plus a bottle of water cost us $3. I love Mexico!

By now it was time to eat lunch and I had planned earlier to go to Diego's, but realized it was very far from town and decided let's stick with our absolute favorite Mexican restaurant Comida Caseras Tonita. 

We had eaten at Tonita back in 2011, loved it and dreamed about going back so despite my yearning to always want to try new things, I was happy to go back.  The place looked exactly as I remembered and we sat down to look at the menu.

Without even thinking about it, we knew we wanted guacamole, salsa, chips and two cokes.  Did I mention fresh food makes a difference?  Right away the women in the kitchen started making all of it from scratch (minus the cokes, those came in sweet glass bottles).  Even the chips were made fresh for us. Amazing!

We looked over the menu and decided for entrees to get grilled chicken for my wife and Mexican style fish for me.  The staff does not speak English at all but with enough broken Spanish we managed to order.

The guac and salsa did not disappoint and were so fresh. I'm pretty sure they had to wait to make the salsa because another woman brought a bag of groceries including tomatoes and our salsa came out right after that.

Another table ordered a whole fish and the woman actually brought over a platter of fresh uncooked fish for the men to choose from.  That is something to see.

Our entrees came out and once again very good all around.  My fish was a white fish of some kind and was delicate and juicy. I really can't convey how good the food was in this post so it's just somewhere I cannot more highly recommend for lunch if you are in Cozumel.

After lunch we picked up a necklace for my daughter from a shop owner and grabbed a taxi back to the pier.

Back onboard, we went to pick up my daughter from Adventure Ocean. I wasn't sure what to expect because it was about 2pm and she hadn't napped so she might be out of her mind exhausted and crying.  When we arrived she saw us, made a sad face, dipped her head down and covered her face with her hands.  

I asked her if she wanted to stay longer, to which she instantly sprang up with a resounding "yes" and we said okay, we will be back later. My wife and I decided to go to the pool alone and get some time there together.

We changed quickly back in the stateroom and went to the Solarium to have a round of drinks and opted for the hot tub instead of the very cold pool.

After we picked up our daughter from Adventure Ocean, this time she had to leave because she needed to nap (although she refused to admit it) and of course cried until we told her we bought her a present.  Then she was all too eager to leave.

Back in the cabin, she got her present (which she was disappointed with because it was not a toy) and took a nap while we showered and relaxed.

At 4:30, Navigator left Cozumel and we began our slow trip back to Galveston.  Where did this week go?!

Right at 5:30 I raced up to deck 12 to get the best sunset photos I could finally get. Each time this week sunset has been blocked by clouds or land but today we had no clouds and an endless horizon. Success!

Like every other night, we took our daughter up to the Windjammer for dinner and then dropped her off at Adventure Ocean.  I have to say that Adventure Ocean has been wonderful and she's really enjoyed her time there.

Tonight was the top tier Crown and Anchor Society event where all Crown and Anchor Society members Platinum level and above get another hour of free drinks.  That's really what it amounts to because otherwise you have an officer or two talking about booing more cruises.  It's nice and I appreciate it but I won't make it into something bigger than it is.

It is Valentine's Day and so we had booked Chops Grille a while back to celebate.  

Chops is not new to Navigator of the Seas but it does have an all-new menu that is only on Navigator of the Seas.  Among other changes, it offers now dry-aged steaks. If the new menu proves popular enough, it will be rolled out to other Chops Grille's across the fleet.

When we arrived at Chops, it was packed and you could tell they were running at capacity. Luckily they had a table open for us and we got right in.

Food-wise, the new menu isn't a huge departure from the old menu, with many old favorites back again.  The big difference is the dry-aged steaks have been added and they have an additional fee. $18 for the dry-rub NY Strip Steak and $19 for the dry-aged portherhouse.

As per usual with these live blogs, I will save the full review for a different blog post in the coming few days but I can say the food was great and service good despite the crowds.  I will be the first to admit I am not an expert at gauging how good or bad a steak is.  For me, there's a certain point in the "how good a steak is" scale and once I pass it, I can't tell the difference between a $20 steak and a $50 steak.

I think the big thing is the dry-aged steak additions and the fact the additional cost nearly doubles the cost of eating at Chops.  At $35 per person to start with and then add another $18-19 for the dry-aged steaks, you are running into an expensive meal.

I'll save the debate for another day but is an interesting change.  Also, for those keeping score at home, the red velvet cake is still on the dessert menu.

After dinner we went to the casino and once again won a little bit of money on roulette and then promptly lost it all when trying to double it. Best 4 minutes of the night.

Afterwards we wandered between bars to find something to do.  Probably the best option was the Cosmipalitan Club on Deck 14 that was playing nothing but love songs to dance to in honor of Valentine's Day.

Tomorrow is our last day on the cruise and it's a sea day.  The last day is always bitersweet but I keep reminding myself it's one more day I'm not at work!