secret1122

On 3/29/2019 at 9:35 AM, RRACING said:

Thanks, found it. Do these packages ever get discounted. I have 2.5 months before my cruise. 

I have personally gotten it as low as half off. My next cruise I'm currently paying full price.

They do put the photos in a weird spot. They're under the category of "Internet & More."

Ever so slightly off topic, but doesn't the idea of refundable deposits defeat the purpose of what a deposit is designed for? This isn't just about Royal Caribbean, but any business in the world today where this seems to be becoming more and more popular. It's great for the consumer, but from the business side it seems useless. The whole point of a deposit is to hold something, whether a product or a reservation. The business is willing to save that thing for you knowing you most likely won't back out, for fear of losing money. With a refundable deposit, it seems there's no incentive for the person to not want to cancel, so again, from the business side, they might as well just agree to hold whatever it is on good faith, rather than ask for money. Anyway, just something that I've thought about over the years.

Our standard is to tip an extra $20 the first day, $10 half way through the trip, and $20 the last day. Thus far, every trip has been "standard" with no abnormalities to adjust that tipping schedule.

Knock yourself out!! Life is too short !

 

 

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Well not literally. That would be incredibly awkward for your stateroom attendant when they find you like that in the morning.

Well geez, for years I've apparently had the wrong impression as to why they call certain balconies "hump" balconies. I guess if Royal's going to name them, you might as well use them for their intended purpose.

This was posted in a Symphony FB group.

 

Hmmmm.

 

 

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Ha ha. That photo is ironically from Disney's Blizzard Beach waterpark. Regardless of the truth behind the story, the photo most certainly did not get picked and used by Royal.

Hi Jim, do you know what time is the earliest reservation at Wonderland?

 

Thank you for yet another amazing live review!

Just cruised on Harmony last month. Earliest time is 5:30.

If they will have their car seats, then any mode of transportation, cab or otherwise should be fine. I've used cabs and Uber when traveling with my child in a car seat while in FL.

I have a pretty small appetite, but I REALLY want to try 75% of the menu.... I hope the portions are small so that I don't waste too much :)

 

 

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I have a large appetite. I tried the entire menu when we cruised Harmony last month. I was pretty full by the end. It's really a lot of food. 75% of the menu with a small stomach capacity might be tough.

Any info on the usability of the Royal IQ app would be appreciated. I used it when sailing the Anthem in Oct for the calendar & Cruise Compass. We will be sailing the Harmony in a couple of weeks with some other couples' date=' so wondering how the messaging/calling others that also have the app is working out? Also, is it $7.95 a day or for the length of the cruise (while onboard)?[/quote']

 

I just sailed Harmony. The app is $7.95 per person for the entire cruise. We had the issue of losing the WiFi signal often during our sailing, but almost never while we were actively using the app. All that meant was that we often times had to close the app and reopen it to use it again. Once using the app, we never had any issues with either the chat or the talk function. I would definitely get it again on my next cruise.

The $7.95 charge is per phone per cruise, only if you want to text and call.

I just want to be clear. I knew you could text with the paid feature (to other app users on the same wifi of course), but can you actually make calls to those other users as well? This would be the first I've heard of any option to call through the app.

Op is asking the owner to send a picture of the ring as proof........ how many people have a picture of their wedding ring !

Don't know the actual answer, but it IS a very popular photograph to be taken by wedding photographers, and also copied by non-professionals. It's the photo of the couple's hands together, or the bride's hand on the bouquet, both clearly focusing on the ring.

Plus, for insurance reasons, many people have photos of valuable items.

We generally get OBC to the amount of about 10% of the base cruise fare, plus prepaid gratuities, and specialty dining for two. We've never had a problem reserving our own dining, excursions, shows, etc. We also can easily make a change to the actual booking by simply calling the TA.

I have never been in the casinos (except to walk through when going across the ship), and I have never gained less than 15 pounds on a cruise :)

Maybe it will send the message that they can get rid of dishes, silverware, towels, sheet, and pillows too because RCI's fine customers will just bring their own.;) The only thing of our own that they don't seem to want us to bring is alcohol.:p:D

Actually, Royal's policy is that you are allowed to bring your own pepper grinder onboard, but if you bring it to the table at dinner, the waiter will charge you a $25 "grindage" fee, with will be added to your bill. This is whether or not the waiter actually grinds the pepper for you.

My third installment is up, this time for 150 CP. I think I may have one more full review still upcoming, which will be Samba. After that, it will be more brief reviews of the counter service spots like the Cupcake Cupboard and Boardwalk Dog House.

http://kleenplate.net/2014/09/22/royal-caribbeans-allure-of-the-seas-150-central-park/

Is there always the discount if you book three or more reservations? I don't see it on the site. Thank you

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/dining_discount_packages.pdf

Clarea posted a great PDF with the info. One thing to add; That PDF states that when you book a certain number of restaurants before boarding, the percent off will be reimbursed through OBC. What it doesn't say is that when you attend a specialty restaurant that wasn't booked before sailing, you will receive the discount at the time the bill arrives at the end of the meal.

The number of restaurants booked is cumulative between those booked before sailing, and those booked (or walked up to at the time of service) while on board. Some examples:

1) You book three or more reservations before sailing - you will receive 20-30% of the value of all 3(+) restaurants as OBC on the first day of the cruise.

2) You book 1 restaurant before sailing, and while on board you walk up to (or book) 2 more restaurants - as soon as all three meals are either booked, or completed, you will receive 20% off the price of the restaurant booked before sailing as OBC the next day, and 20% off the bill at the end of the meal for the two that were booked/eaten while sailing.

3) You decide to just walk up to specialty restaurants and eat on a whim - once the third meal is completed, that meal will have 20% off the bill, and the next day you'll see OBC in the amount of 20% of the price of the first two restaurants you ate.

4) In situation #3 above - you now decide to eat at a fourth restaurant - at the end of this meal, you'll receive 25% off your bill, and the next day will see OBC for an additional 5% of the value of the first three.

I hope this make sense. There are a lot of scenarios, but the basics are this:

• Book/eat 3 restaurants and get 20% all 3
  
• Book/eat 4 restaurants and get 25% all 4
  
• Book/eat 5 or more restaurants and get 30% all of them
  

• Once the discounts are activated, any prior completed meals will be reimbursed through OBC, and any current/future ones will be discounted at the time the bill arrives.
  

Where can I see your chefs table review and on what ship was it on?

The Chef's Table dinner was done on the Allure. You can find the review here: http://kleenplate.net/2014/07/24/royal-caribbeans-allure-of-the-seas-chefs-table/

For future reference, all of my cruise restaurant reviews have a "cruise" category attachment. You can click the word "cruise" right underneath the title of each review, or on the menu on the left side of the page and it will bring you to all my reviews from cruise ship restaurants. As of right now I only have the two reviews from a cruise ship, and until I cruise again, all future reviews will be from the Allure.

Beautiful photos! Wonderful review, thank you!

 

Just a note: The 'flat bread' was served to my son when he ordered the 'pizza sticks' from the children's menu. I think 'pizza sticks' is a more accurate description.

 

 

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Ha ha, that's funny. I agree with the "pizza sticks" term being a better description.

Thank you for your detailed review! I have celiac disease and I love hearing about gluten free food. My husband and I are booked on the oasis in May and I have been stressing about having decent food to eat. How did your wife find the rest of the food on the cruise ship?

I'm not sure if you meant this literally or not. If you're asking how she actually found the food, it's just a matter of checking for the gluten-free symbol on the menus, or if it's a counter service area, you just have to ask what's gluten-free and they'll be more than accommodating.

I have a feeling what you may have actually been asking, was how did she like the food? Well, for the most part, she couldn't tell the difference since many times it's just a main dish that the rest of us eat that never had gluten in the first place. Other times a "glutinated" ingredient may have been subbed out for a gluten-free ingredient. In this case, the meal itself may have tasted different than the normal version, but not necessarily worse. The times we noticed it the most was when there was a bread product involved. As with most gluten-free breads using recipes from the original days of gluten-free baking, the breads are more dense, and sometimes have that grittier texture. However, there have been some items that were improved and we could barely tell the difference.

We could notice it with the gluten-free pizza crust at Sorrento's, and if the bread service brought us gluten-free breads that were made on board, generally we could tell they were different. Not necessarily bad, just different (ok, maybe not quite as good).

There were also times like you saw in my review, where a pre-packaged item from Udi's or Enjoy Life would be brought out. We both find Udi's to be obvious in the gluten-free taste, but Enjoy Life makes some pretty good products that are tough to notice any difference from their normal version.

Many desserts on the ship may be gluten-free from the beginning. As I show in this review, that tart was primarily gluten-free (with the exception of that one thin layer). In this case I could tell the difference by taste, but when it comes to some desserts, I personally sometimes prefer the gluten-free version since their denser texture makes them more filling, so a little goes a long way.

The short answer is that it's an even mix of obvious and not as good, nothing changed since it was originally gluten-free by nature, and I can tell it's gluten-free, but it's just as good as the regular version.

Still open for lunch, just no reservations taken, it's first-come, first-serve.

Thanks for the info. I think this may be my new go-to boarding day lunch, especially knowing I can order both a pasta and an entrée.

This has changed since you were aboard the Allure, you cannot book Giovanni's for lunch anymore before you board.

Aw. I feel badly that your server did not suggest it! It's been almost a year since I've been there so maybe it has changed (cutbacks) or maybe lunch is different.

 

Next time you go, be sure to look inside. They have the traditional prosciutto slicer set up with the whole ham on it. Makes me feel like I'm in Italy. The other thing to try next time is the tiramisu! Very good. My DD who never passes it up anywhere we eat thinks it's the best she has ever had.

I can say after two meals at Giovanni's this past cruise, the prosciutto slicer is no longer used, it just sits on display in the restaurant (this is what I was told by our server on my cruise in May, I don't know if things have changed since).

I'm not a real fan of tiramisu, so I never order it. Too cake-like, and too plain for my tastes.

Thanks so much for posting this review! Was totally absorbed by your Chef's Table review and look forward to the 150 Central Park one.

 

Don't know why, but our experience with Giovanni's on the Allure has been the least favorite of the Giovanni's on Royal's ships. Noting your lasagna, other ships do have more meat. We did not even bother to eat there on our August cruise since our last experience was so disappointing (i.e. waiting forever for courses...30 - 45 min., incorrect items once arriving, and barely warm to cold). It's something that needs to be fixed since seeing others here on CC with the same experiences.

 

Thanks again for your review.

Don't get too excited for the 150 review. I'm getting close to finishing, but I'm afraid my notes on the food were not too extensive as I had a lot going on with taking care of the little one. I think I put more detail into the atmosphere than the food. I was unable to take photos in the same fashion that I normally do, and only have some full photos of the entire plates, as opposed to my usual closeups. I'm doing my best with what I have after the fact.

Based on your comment, I may give the lasagna another shot if I have lunch there on a different ship, especially if Steeler Nation At Sea's comment that I can order from both the entrée and pasta section is true.

No Giovanni's on Quantum :( [emoji30]

 

 

I've eaten a few times at Giovanni's. Love it. One thing mentioned in the review that I'm not so sure about though. Page 2 of the menu was always treated like Primi and Secondi and we were encouraged to order both a pasta AND a main.

 

 

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Wow, I wish I had known that. I was under the impression that you're not supposed to order more than one entrée, but people had gotten away with it in the past. If I thought at all that there was the possibility of it being acceptable to order a pasta and an entrée from the second page, I certainly would have done so. I just didn't want to bother asking at the time. I will certainly ask on my next cruise.

Wonderful review and fabulous photographs! Are you a professional food critic? Your comments and the accompanying photographs are amazing.

 

By the way, my exact feelings on the lasagna, was disappointed with it. We went there for dinner one evening and enjoyed that much more.

 

Did you eat at Chops? We really enjoyed Chops and had an amazing waiter.

 

I'm looking forward to your review on 150 Central, we are probably the only 2 persons around that did not like 150 Central, it just was not our "cup of tea", but with all the food areas on this fantastic ship, we never were hungry.

 

JB

Thank you for your nice comments about my photography and writing, I'll address that in a moment... I too, had dinner at Giovanni's later in the week (we ate exclusively at specialty restaurants for dinner the whole week). The funny thing is that I have no recollection of what I ate for that dinner or whether I enjoyed it more than lunch. You've worried me now :) I have eaten at Giovanni's in the past for dinner and while I enjoy it, I don't find it much more spectacular than certain Italian restaurants on land.

I did eat at Chops, and as with every visit, I really enjoyed it. I did not review that dinner though. This past cruise I had my 7 month old with us, and my wife doesn't necessarily enjoy me doing these reviews as it is, and with an infant she really needs my help with taking care of him during meals so she can get a chance to relax and enjoy her meal. There were a few meals during this cruise that I agreed to leave the camera in its bag.

Chops has always been a favorite of mine. I think the service at times could be much improved, but the food is excellent if you have the patience to wait for it during those poor service nights.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy 150 CP. My wife and I love that place, and ate there twice during this cruise to enjoy both menus (although they were surprisingly similar in some ways). The service for us has always been great, and the food even better. We were also well accommodated with our son so that we didn't disturb anyone if he got noisy (which he didn't luckily).

I am so embarrassed! I just looked at several of your other reviews and now I know you are undoubtedly a fabulous food reviewer and probably have a huge following. I will be one of those followers! You have a magic way with words to make the sensation of the food you review become real and the photographs that accompany your review are just perfect.

 

So in my previous posting when I asked if you were a professional food critic and photographer it should have been obvious.

 

wonderful review

I thank you immensely for such kind comments, but in reality I'm nowhere close to being a professional food reviewer. I have a full time job in life, but enjoy doing reviews on the side. As you can see from my first review on the site, I just started this about a year and a half ago.

The back story is that everyone at my work knows how much I can eat (I have become a bit of a side show during meals), and I used to always talk so highly of the amazing foods at Disney World. On that trip last April, I promised everyone I would write a review of all the food I ate so they could visually see what I was talking about. It turned out that I enjoyed doing it, especially after they all told me how much they enjoyed reading the reviews. I decided to keep going, at least for now.

I have looked up what it takes to become a professional blogger, and I don't have the time or patience to attempt it, so I will continue to do this as a hobby during my free time. My camera equipment is basic, and I use it for personal photos (which I have enjoyed doing since childhood). To someone not too knowledgeable about photography, my photos might look amazing, but compared to true professionals, I don't think they hold up at all. I really do appreciate the kind words though, and as long as some people still enjoy the photos and reviews, I'll try to keep doing them. It's just tough at times, as I write these entire reviews during my breaks at work. I don't want to take valuable time away from my family at home with this.

If you are following my blog, I am still transferring old reviews from my original site, so you may get some emails about new reviews, that in reality are older and being transferred to the new site. You can tell by the date of each review at the top.

Again, I'm very honored that you feel I have professional qualities, but I don't feel that I do. I've seen many truly professional photos, and mine don't compare. The writing is something I've never been great at, and I feel that these reviews have helped me learn new words, and new ways to express them in writing. I do a lot of research when writing these. I research both vocabulary, spelling, and even types of foods. I have learned so much about different cuisines while writing about food, and the blog has really given me an appreciation for the food I eat, and taught me to pay more attention to what I eat and allowed me to enjoy the tastes even more.

I have a 150 CP review coming up next, and after that I have reviews still to write for Boardwalk Dogs, Cupcake Cupboard, Park Cafe, and Samba. Samba will be the only other detailed review after 150 CP, the rest are quicker looks at some samplings (actually I ate every dog at Boardwalk Dogs in one sitting, but there's not much detail to put into reviewing a hot dog).

Thank you for doing this, really helpful. Your photos are fantastic :) Do you mind me asking what camera you have?

Thanks again,

Sally

I have the relatively cheap and basic Canon T2i, nothing special. The lens I use is also low end, it was the one that came with the camera.