Airbear232

I’m sorry to hear Explorer is being “tramped”. IMHO, they ruin part of the experience of that class of ship. Explorer has a great gym with included change rooms, sauna and steam room. They will relocate the gym from fire to aft and get rid of comp change rooms, sauna and steam room. The gym will be much smaller and you’ll have to pay for the other services. For me, this is a big downgrade I experience. Very sad.

Right it was Voyager. Same class but wrong ship.

You are right, I get my names mixed up. It was Voyager out of Stockholm. The rest still applies.

Yes

The tips go to more than your wait staff and room attendant. I’ve seen so many people cancel or reduce tips because they believe their being overcharged. I disagree with this but to each his own. I believe they all work hard and we do not cancel or remove the tips. We still ask for envelopes and give a little more to those who have given extraordinary service and usually this is the room attendant, assistant waiter, waiter and head waiter.

We were on Navigator in June out of Stockholm. We did receive the compass each day. Wouldn’t miss it as app has most everything. What we did miss were port maps. We were told they stopped giving them because someone sued Royal for being left at port and them blaming the map. Big disappointment, the maps helped a lot around dock and downtown.

We usually tip extra on last day, in addition to daily prepaid amounts. We usually tip assistant waiter, waiter and head waiter. We have been fortunate and have always had great service. They work hard and it is just a show of appreciation. My DW has allergies and the head waiter always looks after her orders.

I agree with a lot of your points. Food in MDR is down in quality. I attribute it more to the skill of the chefs than anything else. Is it intentional to get people into specialty dining? Not sure, but decline in MDR coincides with push for new specialty options.

I really hope they don’t mess up EOS like they did Navigator. I love the gym on the Explorer, good size with steam room and sauna included. Navigator’s gym was moved from fore to aft, greatly reduced in size, change rooms, sauna and steam room all gone. For me, HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT. Please save EOS from this horrible fate!

Doesn’t seem to be any dress code anymore, even on “formal nights.”

DW has allergies, we almost always opt for MDR. They make sure there’s no cross contamination. As well, we enjoy a window looking at the sea.

We’ve sailed on both many times out of NY/Bayonne. Like both. Prefer Royal’s ships, especially larger ones , they’re a destination in themselves. I don’t like NCL’s ship layout. Ding ceilings low and far too much space is taken up by the Haven. I think overall the food has been better on NCL and they handle allergies better. I’d also give NCL the nod on itineraries. However, overall we prefer Oasis and Quantum classes of Royal. Great spaces.

Definitely a love it or hate it show. Our family falls in the hate it. Wish they’d replace with Hamilton or bring back Chicago.

Beef on a weck is not beef on a roll! 🙂. The combination of caraway and salt makes it distinct. Wish they had them on all ships. We were on Grandeur a few years back and missed this.

Schedule a 3 day before your other cruise.

We agree, we’re on Voyager in the Baltic and have thought how Royal’s food has gone way down in quality over the years. The service is great but meals in MDR and Windjammer are a far cry from what they were even 10 years ago. This is something they should correct.