Cruise Raider

I hope so for you as well. That’s why I asked three different stewards, because I heard the sales of the digital coffee cards was discontinued.

@HaveDogWillTravel posted all the new drink menus on the Live From the Royal 2/25 - 3/12 thread. The Royal had a very nice wine selection at Vines but not so much at other bars. I was very pleased with their Hartford Chardonnay, in the absence of Rombauer. They also had Mer Soliel in the dining room, though the waiter was trying to push the Canyon Road. My DH found a lot of reds that he liked including Seghesio Zin, Meomi Pinot, Substance cab, etc. in Vines. There was a nice bubbly in Bellinis, but I can’t recall the name of it. They also had a decent Pinot Gris there that went well with the pizza next door at Alfredo’s. I was very pleased with my selections on the Plus Package this trip. The wine selection on the Diamond was horrible but they also don’t have a Vines. Most of the wines went up maybe a $1 or $2, whereas the limit went up by $3 dollars on the packages.

In case I haven’t yet mentioned this on this thread, the coffee grounds package is definitely discontinued. It’s now included as part of the zero alcohol package. You’re probably still better off purchasing the plus package, though, if you purchase WiFi. I asked three different room stewards about what you can swap your minibar out for .. all there said the same thing. We could get a digital coffee card OR swap out non alcohol drinks for other non alcohol drinks, alcohol for other alcohol drinks or non alcohol drinks. None mentioned that you could swap it out for a bottle of wine. You used to call room service for the swap, now you just ask your room steward. BTW, the reason I asked so many room stewards was because they are so new to the policy, I thought I might get different answers, but I didn’t.

I have a whole list of what I believe is better .. The beds and bedding … so very comfy able now! The handheld shower heads .. big yay! Dinner reservations from the app so I can actually go to which dining room and what time I prefer The much expanded room service menu and getting food where I want The smaller portions (that is actually a plus for me because I detest wasting food) The less formal atmosphere in the dining rooms The check in process and disembarkation processes The Plus and Premier Packages Discounts on the excursions The craft sessions Live music options all over the ship, even during the PES happy hour No smoking on the balconies Access to the beverage package from room service Expanded options at the international cafe and the grill by the pool (chicken tacos and even lobster rolls) Officer engagement The medallion class experience from booking to checking your account, easy access to your cabin, locating friends, booking excursions, checking on your personalized schedule, directions around the ship, celebratory messages on the digital screens, bartenders knowing who you are and what you like, etc 3 future cruise consultants onboard each ship now Oh yes, and the coffee Have I forgotten anything? Im sure there is something I’ve failed to mention something …

Oh my goodness, they’ve done it for me several times. I tend to go when it’s not too busy and and when there are two people working. But, here’s the thing, you can order a multitude of sandwiches from the app now. They will deliver them to you wherever you happen to be, even if it’s in the piazza. You can choose which sides you want, type of condiments, and type of bread. Very nice service!

I believe the premium suites are way up front. They are fabulous cabins with full suite perks but you have to also consider the location. You will experience more movement up front, so if you get sea sick, that wouldn’t be a room I would choose. They also have a long but very shallow balcony.

You will not be at the Glaciers at dinner time. I happen to the like dining rooms that are midship on decks 5 or deck 6. Mostly all of the tables for 2 are on a bench seat, so you will most likely have neighbors on both sides of you. Getting a solo table for 2 by the window is extremely limited, although there are a few. Dining for 2 for either 6:00 PM or 6:20 PM are your best bet for getting to the 7:30 PM show in the theater .. depending on how many courses you order. We rarely stay for dessert so, we pick the 6:20 option. But, they are currently filling the ships so, we might even suggest the earlier option if we want to get a seat at the shows.

We just got off the Royal yesterday and the new prices kicked in. Every drink was up to a $15 limit. We also had booked under the previously priced package. There are new menus from several bars posted by @HaveDogWillTravel on the Live From the Royal 2/25 - 3/12 post. Some wines we previously paid an upcharge for were actually now covered, even though several of the wines, but not all, went up by $1 or $2. I was extremely happy with the Plus package. A couple of times, we did order a wine over the package. That was fine as we had a lot of OBC. I am thinking your TA probably repriced the whole cruise with the new package, including the insurance to cover the increased cost. When you get onboard, see if you are pleased with the Plus Package and if you find you are not, there is a place on the app under packages where you can upgrade for $30 a day pp provided you paid $50 for the package when your TA booked it for you. You can just pay using your obc and only upgrade on day one or day two.

The excellent tuna sandwiches, which was made on a croissant, was available every day. I was so happy, even though one should not eat tuna everyday. But, I couldn’t help myself! I’m sure you could ask for a sandwich to be made without cheese vs them just taking it off. Most of the sandwiches they had available were made with cheese. They also have avocado toast with a sliced hard boiled egg in the morning. Their selections have changed over the last 20 months.

We were just on the Diamond a couple of weeks earlier and although the ship was full, the Internet was actually half way decent. But, with all things equal, the Royal’s 75% capacity is probably way more than the Diamond’s 100% capacity. And when taking into account the ship’s position and itinerary, there are just so many variables that come into play .. and as you say, the capacity when onboard.

the internet was just not great, whether in port or at se,

I answered your question on the wrong thread. So, photos of food and menus are really not something I do but I did check for dairy free items in the IC. While there are some obvious dairy free options, Sandwiches without cheese, fruit, etc … none of the other options were dairy free. I don’t eat meat and asked them to pull the roast beef off the sandwich a couple,e of times and they had no problem with that. It was delish! So, I’m sure they could do the same with the cheese on the different sandwiches before serving them, as well. Now, in terms of the custards and such, no, that is just not going to be good for you.

I didn’t explain that very well in all my excitement. I won’t be doing the March 2-12 cruise on the Royal Princess. Busy packing up this morning after only 5 days. However, I really only packed for 10 days so repacking was a breeze. The seas turned a lot rougher last night but that was to be expected. It’s rather cool and cloudy outside but as of now, no rain.

Absolutely! Our group went yesterday and Silvija, the manager of Alfredo’s took care of us! Wow .. she was so good and very personable. We all ordered variations of what was on the menu.

I see someone has started their own live from thread for the upcoming sailing … I won’t be responding too much on this thread because I jumped on that Move Over Offer so quickly! We live locally and are retried and are back onboard at the end of the month .. so it was such an easy decision for us to make. many thanks for @HaveDogWillTravelfor posting all the photos. to the Bourbon lovers, we tried that Jack Daniels in the square bottle and wow, it was so good.

there was Encore and Sweet Soul Music on this sailing.

We just accepted the move over offer for the March 2nd cruise on the Royal. We are currently onboard and live locally, we are both retried and have a Hawaii trip planned for later this month anyway. For us, it was a no brainer.

I believe the wine tasting for elites is tomorrow afternoon.

we’d take that in a heartbreak. I don’t think they offered it to us, though.

We saw Alvin the first day at lunch on this sailing but haven’t been back to the dining room since then. The lines are so long and we’ve just been interested in going. But, we will probably go starting after this cruise.

So, another fun day at sea yesterday. Contrary to the weather forecast, we are blessed with full sunshine today in San Diego after a night of very calm sea. Although it was formal night last night, we just hit the buffet … it was surprisingly good. They had plenty of selection (no Bavarian night so far) and lots of Asian themed dishes. The place was absolutely barren, too. we heard the comedian was excellent but we were just too tired to stay up last night. The dining room lines are consistently way down the hallway. We’ve only made it there for the embarkation lunch and haven’t gone back since. I am doing a B2B so maybe on the next sailing we will go more often. We were certainly spoiled on those low capacity sailings. I knew it was just a matter of time to get them filled to capacity. Yet, the only place I have really noticed crowds was for the dining room. The pools may get more crowded now the weather is getting better. Nobody was out there yesterday, though. we also went to the future cruise office and booked for the fall. It’s so nice they have three people working there now. The wait times are so much better.

Last year, we were able to buy several bottles of it in the shops onboard, so I know what you mean. It came to about $60 a bottle when we purchased it but if you can find it for under $100, I’d still say that was a great deal. Trouble is finding it … what an extremely great marketing campaign they have with limiting the supply and the horses all having a separate letter. We e looked in many of the ports for it as well … it’s just nowhere to be found.

there is absolutely no Blantons onboard, neither in the bars or in the shops. This was confirmed by the bar supervisor yesterday. He said they gave up on trying to get it as it was just never available.

I went by the watch store and there were 4 cases of the Tissolt watches. They have 29 differ t styles. There are two expensive watches that run $1700 and the rest are in the $400-$500 price ranges.

so, we paid $50 for the plus package and it would be $10 a day pp to upgrade to the new plus package or $30 a day pp to upgrade to the premier package.