Izumi and saketini - Navigator of the Seas

Izumi, wow... it is my favorite restaurant onboard. The ambiance, food, service and most of all saketini are just awesome. Its location just at the top of the ship deck 14 overlooking the sea just adds to its "awesomeness."

Things to know are that it is open for lunch for a couple of hours 12 - 1:30pm and dinner when we tried. The lunch and dinner menus are different where as the lunch menu is much smaller and almost... almost all sushi. They do offer soups and a few other items though but the dinner menu offers much, much more than just sushi.

I ordered from what i remember as the dragon which i ordered with a spice sauce per the waiter's recommendation and the spicy tuna rolls... oh so good... so dang good.

What i like the most is the saketini... holy cow was it good, a special mixture of vodka/sake garnished with cocktail onions. Thing is you can also order it at the cosmo bar but be prepared to wait if the bartender hesitates to give you one with the excuse that it is "special". Izumi okayed mine each time, which was numerous.

You start off with an appetizer we had the peas with rock salt, addicting. You also get warm hand cloths, two chopsticks on what i think is a bamboo place mat. The tables are situated along the curvature of the deck which means there are windows through out the main wall which give wonderful views. You can host large parties there too, we saw a party of 12.

Prices are pretty cheap which is amazing for the taste. They range from $4 to $10 from what i recall with mostly sitting in the $6-$7 range.

Just ask if you have questions.

Thank you for the review! We are really looking forward to trying it out on the Allure! We LOVE sushi!

Second your opinion! Tried it on Grandeur recently and love, love, LOVED it! Ala carte prices are similar to what you would pay in a good sushi place on land;). Friends with us got the hot rocks and were not impressed - kind of bland, no spices for the actual cooking and were given three dipping sauces (terriyaki, ginger and spicy if I remember correctly). It was just okay for that.

Now my DH and I stuck to the sushi, sashimi and nigiri offerings - oh yum! We had the Tuna carpacio with a wasabi drizzle, the octopus appetizer and several rolls (couldn't even tell you which ones). For dessert I opted for the sampler while DH had the mochi ice cream. Our waiter tried to warn me away from the sampler because green tea is featured in a few of them and he said 'most people don't enjoy the flavor', but I love green tea so I was like 'Bring it on!' and it was delicious:D.

The executive chef for the Izumi brand (corporate level) happened to be on board Grandeur during our sailing, tweaking some of the offerings (I believe they are looking at adding more typical fare - teppanyaki etc. to try and broaden appeal) and we had the pleasure of speaking with him for about 20 minutes after our dinner. Apparently when my DH was over at the sushi prep station he was there and could tell DH knew a bit about sushi (DH is half Japanese) so once we were done he came over to get our opinion as well as the opinions of those traveling with us (good choice on his part - we ran the spectrum from first time trying sushi to DH & I who eat sushi whenever we can:rolleyes:).

Another hint - inquire about the sushi making class they offer on a sea day - very limited (like 12-14 people) and runs $20 per person, but you make two rolls of sushi and two pieces of nigiri. Once done, you sit down as a group and eat your creations (plus they give your the soy bean appetizer and miso soup as well). A very fun way to pass about 45 minutes:p

Second your opinion! Tried it on Grandeur recently and love, love, LOVED it! Ala carte prices are similar to what you would pay in a good sushi place on land;). Friends with us got the hot rocks and were not impressed - kind of bland, no spices for the actual cooking and were given three dipping sauces (terriyaki, ginger and spicy if I remember correctly). It was just okay for that.

 

Now my DH and I stuck to the sushi, sashimi and nigiri offerings - oh yum! We had the Tuna carpacio with a wasabi drizzle, the octopus appetizer and several rolls (couldn't even tell you which ones). For dessert I opted for the sampler while DH had the mochi ice cream. Our waiter tried to warn me away from the sampler because green tea is featured in a few of them and he said 'most people don't enjoy the flavor', but I love green tea so I was like 'Bring it on!' and it was delicious:D.

 

The executive chef for the Izumi brand (corporate level) happened to be on board Grandeur during our sailing, tweaking some of the offerings (I believe they are looking at adding more typical fare - teppanyaki etc. to try and broaden appeal) and we had the pleasure of speaking with him for about 20 minutes after our dinner. Apparently when my DH was over at the sushi prep station he was there and could tell DH knew a bit about sushi (DH is half Japanese) so once we were done he came over to get our opinion as well as the opinions of those traveling with us (good choice on his part - we ran the spectrum from first time trying sushi to DH & I who eat sushi whenever we can:rolleyes:).

 

Another hint - inquire about the sushi making class they offer on a sea day - very limited (like 12-14 people) and runs $20 per person, but you make two rolls of sushi and two pieces of nigiri. Once done, you sit down as a group and eat your creations (plus they give your the soy bean appetizer and miso soup as well). A very fun way to pass about 45 minutes:p

Ha, that sounds like fun, I will have to ask next time. :)

 

You start off with an appetizer we had the peas with rock salt, addicting.

 

Yes addicting but not peas. It's Edamame which are boiled soy beans than sprinkled with Kosher salt. Izumi serves this as a complimentary appetizer to every table.

Also check the daily compass as there's generally a sushi making demonstration. At the end there are free samples to taste. On one cruise there was hardly any one at the demonstration so I basically had a complete sushi meal for free !