Itchy&Scratchy

could we get some menu pictures, please? and regular MDR menus as well, please. 🙂

I am so confused by the current sale... I am looking at TG 2023 on Seascape. The price for the all inclusive package when booking an inside cabin for 2 is $82/pp. The price for the all inclusive package when booking a balcony cabin for 2 - $162pp. What's going on? It's twice as much. Inside cabin for 3 people - it's cheaper to book it WITH the AI package ($1,143) than it is without ($1,161). AI package when booking a balcony for 3 costs $90 per adult and nothing for a kid. Or $60 pp.

So, let me know if you have any questions, but this is about it. We loved the cruise. The ship is gorgeous. Perfume store: Fruit carvings at the buffet: I was desperate to have a balcony, even though it wasn't affordable with the original prices or any time after that. I was so happy when I won the bid for an obstructed deluxe (wanted a regular obstructed, but none were available). Yay! We listened to the violin duo in the plaza quite a bit, especially when they played Vivaldi. Watched the flash mob dance - very cute. Princess Patters were delivered every evening, and we had twice daily service, unless we put on a DND sign up (electronic). The bathroom had two pump bottles in the shower (body wash and shampoo/conditioner) and two pump bottles on the vanity (lotion and soap). No soap bar - I brought my own just in case. Same awful shower curtain which often flipped over the splash guard and water went all over the floor. 😞 The cabin was great and we love the layout which allows us to store two opened suitcases in the closet. RCI cabins are so bad in this regard - the closets are inaccessible, with or without the suitcases in them. We took it easy on this cruise and stayed out of a lot of crowded venues for fear of getting Covid, like last time. Hope to pick up the speed on our next cruises. Princess doesn't have anything but Caribbean Princess sailing during Thanksgiving next year, so I just booked a brand new MSC Seascape - with everything included (wifi and alcohol), the balcony for 3 is a very reasonable $2,330 for a holiday sailing. I am going to bring my parents with us. The itinerary is nowhere near as wonderful as Southern Caribbean, but a cruise is a cruise, right? Our first two attempts to sail with MSC have failed - first in April 2020 and then I cancelled April 2022 because the covid infections were spiking on ships amid masking cancellations. We were going to travel with my elderly parents then. And look at us know - nothing is required anymore. MSC food is also reportedly not as good as Princess', but we'll survive. 🙂 But they do have a ping pong table which is what my kiddo wants most of all at this time.

wonderful, thank you! Just booked a Seascape cruise yesterday for next year.

they probably had completely different ingredients in it then. 🙂 Do what works for you, of course.

Yes, for us - for sure.

of course! We order 1-3 appetizers each, and 1-3 entrees depending on what tickles our fancy. Sometimes you only see one thing you like and sometimes you see 3. Or even 4, but let's be reasonable - that's a LOT of food. Sometimes if we haven't tried something before, but we are not sure we are going to like it, we will only order one and share it (and something else that we know for sure we like). But usually DH and I like somewhat different things. Some people order only one of every course, because they don't overeat. 🙂 We are not this kind of people. The waiters usually ask if you want all appetizers or entrees brought out at once. We usually do, because if they bring out one at a time, it'll be a veeeeeery looooong dinner. More than two hours. We don't have time for that, and we eat pretty fast so things don't cool down or warm up by the time we are ready for the next dish.

it's not that bad. All three of us are going to be in an inside cabin on the Allure next year. We book what we can afford without me being frustrated. Sometimes we get a acceptable price on a balcony, and sometimes we can only go with an inside. Cruising has become quite a bit more pricy lately. We are a lot more content with having an inside cabin on RCI ships than we are on Princess. We are always out doing something fun on RCI. We spend a lot of time reading on the balcony or watching free on demand movies on Princess ships.

it totally was for us! I bought a soda package for my 11 yo for the first time last summer as a present for his elementary school graduation (yay!). On the Allure it was totally worth it because of the freestyle coke machine - any soda, any flavor, even seltzers, any time. He drank a lot - it's a vacation. I have just purchased a soda package for him for our upcoming April cruise for $7.99 per day (Black Friday).

And that brings us to the final day of unlimited dining: Tropical fruit soup - excellent! Interesting that mine tasted like mango, and DS's tasted more like pineapples.... must have been made in different pots. 🙂 Seafood medley app was pretty good: but I didn't really enjoy the seafood bisque. Both DH and DS ordered the meatloaf (I don't know why)... and both left it uneaten. Just wasn't very appealing. DS ordered the Asian noodles, and, to my huge surprise, he actually loved them: DH enjoyed the mahi-mahi: And then he saw me immensely enjoying my surf and turf (that tenderloin - medium, no sauce - was probably the best I've ever had): that he ordered and devoured his own (also medium, but with the rosemary sauce) to make up for the meatloaf: What an excellent finish for our sailing!!! Complete with the Baked Alaska Parade. 🙂

we love Blue Bay beach and bar. $12 per adult, $6 per child, chaises and palapas are included. Wifi is included. May want to wear water shoes. taxi is $40 each way.

we were there last week. Still a lovely place. $40 each way, but when we asked the dispatcher, he told us to discuss the price with the driver. In June it was $40, and now it's $40 each way. Beach admission is still $12 per adult and $6 per kid. Palapas and chaises are included. Try to get there early to have a choice of those. It's better to make arrangements for the return taxi trip so they can plan their day better, but both times we ended up just asking the bar person to call the taxi driver (they provide a business card), since we are not sure when we'd be ready to return. This time we could have also joined another couple of taxis which were returning to the same ship as us, whose passengers have agreed on a specified return time.

yes! we were there last week. Still magical!

Enchanted also arrived at noon. We got off about 12:30, got a taxi and drove to Sorobon beach. Been there before, and we are in love. We stayed till about 4. if you want to go snorkeling - you go to Klein Bonaire. Barebones, wild, no amenities, but fantastic snorkeling. If you want shallow calm water and to just lounge around (or do windsurfing) - you go to Sorobon beach (taxi $5 pp each way, lounger $10, free wifi). It's magical.

I know it's too late for OP, but for the future cruisers - Sapphire has lots of natural shade (that's the reason we pick it): lots of large seagrape trees.

i'd go with Harmony and try to pick a date that is within Kids Sail free promotion.

I guess it was. They announced that it was an emergency, and life saving blood donations were needed asap.

The following day was a sea day and a formal dinner. We chilled, read books, watched TV, enjoyed our balcony as much as we could (it was in direct sun almost the entire day), the boys played ping pong a LOT and had lots of ice cream, DS enjoyed a lot of mocktails, I also read in the Wake View bar area for a bit, walked around the stores (I love smelling perfumes and looking at jewelry), just a nice relaxing day... Lime and salt-cured salmon was delicious! The taste of a crab salad with salted salmon combination was very unexpected, but great. Both of us enjoyed it very much. I also tried the escargot (not a big fan, but I try to be open minded), and I didn't like the taste of the butter. It had way too many spices for me. I would have preferred a simpler butter and garlic flavor: I also tried Cucumber-melon-mint soup and didn't enjoy it at all (kind of tasteless and plain if you ask me): DS ordered the lemon scented ravioli as an appetizer, but didn't like them. I thought the flavor was great - very delicate, but the ravioli themselves were undercooked. He then enjoyed his regular Fettuccine Alfredo, while I opted for a very nice lobster entree: Now, the biggest surprise of the night was Pumpkin and Walnut crepes. Santorini's hostess Rachel (a lovely young woman) told me they were excellent. We are not big fans of pumpkin anything, so I was skeptical but gave it a try. Mmmmmmmmmm! Incredible! So fluffy and creamy at the same time, and had a wonderful flavor that was not reminiscent of pumpkin pies (I was afraid of that). Will definitely order them next time: DH loved his beef wellington (medium): Both DH and I ordered the 5-spice duck and couldn't have been more disappointed: It looked fantastic on the outside and smelled great. But inside it was a splotchy grey and pink - not very appetizing looking. We also didn't care for the taste or texture. Upon seeing that neither of us ate it, our head waiter Doru (very hard working and caring) talked to the chef about it, apologized and assured us it was safe to eat, despite its color palette. But we didn't like the taste either, so he offered more lobster instead, but we declined - had little space left for dessert (we saw other people getting the Pistachio Dome). We didn't like the noodles that came with the duck either. Ta-da, the Pistachio Dome! Same as before - delicious and rich: Crepes Suzette, in contrast, were such a waste and a failure: Imagine carton-dry and carton-tasting crepes literally swimming in a sea of caramel sauce. The crepes were inedible, the sauce was extremely sweet and couldn't be consumed alone or with the gelato. I ate some of the gelato alone, and it was great. But the rest of it went to waste. Disappointed.

so, after the bad carrot cake, we stopped by the buffet and super-duper enjoyed this cake: it was exquisite. And, of course, our favorite nutella crepes. this cake was good:

Dinner on Curacao night: I remember ordering Banana Rum soup, but I don't remember actually getting it. DH enjoyed a Mexican salad. DS ordered the tropical fruit plate, but didn't actually enjoy it, except for mango. I finished it for him and loved it. Terrine was great! DH ordered the sesame chicken bites. We had them a couple of years ago and I remember not liking them all that much last time. They are ok. Striped corvina wasn't worth it. The fish was so-so, but the potato thingie that came with it was simply atrocious - completely dried out and impossible to cut or bite into. Grilled seafood was pleasant, but not impressive. Perhaps, I simply don't like fruit on my shrimp. Now, the prime rib (medium, no jus) was wonderful. Very tender and juicy. A little too pink if you ask me, but still wonderful. But the baked potato that came with it was bad. It was dry and they forgot to offer any toppings on it. It was a plain, dry baked potato. I liked the green beans. Grandma's chicken in wine was very good per DH: The carrot cake was the worst my husband has ever had. After one bite he said - we are going for some crepes at the buffet.

it wasn't crowded at all this time. It's usually a zoo, but it wasn't this time, which surprised me, since the cruise appeared to be at full capacity. Perhaps, it's was because we showed up around 11:20-11-30? But we stayed at least an hour if not more. I am thinking - maybe, because there were fewer kids on it, and some older people like the pace of the MDR and Gigi's for embarkation lunch. I don't care either way (even though I do like Royal class buffets like no other), but DH and DS WANT buffet and wouldn't have it any other way. Speaking of Gigi's: We once again didn't go... But I have seen rather long lines to get in around lunch on several days. What we did try again is the gelato, but only one flavor: DS was begging for gelato in a fancy cone. $2.95 for 2 scoops in a cone, fyi. Also, randomly taken photos of the offerings at the International cafe: Asian noodle shrimp salad was good. We definitely used IC for breakfast a lot more. Tiny egg muffins were out of this world (they'll warm them up for you) and I also very much enjoyed Egg McMuffins (also toasted). DS enjoyed donuts in the morning (chocolate glazed and strawberry glazed). He didn't care for the lemon ones (aka rainbow sprinkles on yellow glaze). Too bad they didn't have Nutella filled donuts like on Regal. We were really looking forward to a diabetic coma caused by them.

great review, thank you! Have you noticed any ping pong tables?

I don't, but the patters would probably list it as open if it was. 🙂 We really enjoy the buffet on embarkation days. With all it offers, it would not be in our best interest to go to a more of a fast food place. 🙂 A quick snack or a burger on a different day - yes. We did enjoy the pizza place next to it on other days. The pepperoni pizza is pretty good, especially if your kid is hungry and there are still 2 hours till dinner and you just came back from the beach.

it was for O neg and O pos. People with O neg blood are universal donors - anyone can receive O neg. O positive blood can be given to anyone with positive blood. Great review! Thank you!

Next and final port: Curacao... What a lovely destination! Our first time there I didn't do enough research and we went to some Pirate Bay beach bar and left underwhelmed. Last time we went to Blue Bay beach and loved it. Entry is $12 per adult and $6 per kid, free wifi, beautiful beach area, lots of chaises and palapas. $40 taxi each way. So, we also headed there this time and we weren't disappointed. We left in the morning when it was still raining, but when we got to the beach, we got the biggest palapa (more like a large gazebo) at the end of the beach, and a little while later it cleared up and we enjoyed a lovely beach day. the last one in this photo: We hand fed all sorts of fish some bread we brought with us from the ship Lots of wildlife this time: We got to enjoy seeing some kind of a hawk pull a fish out of the water and eat it over the course of the next 2-3 hours on the beach: Mikey the iguana (seems like an appropriate name for it) this crane was much smaller in June when we were there last time. It grew a lot!