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Well if our cruises on Allure later in the year do go ahead without the amplification, we should at least get a FCC. That's what happened on my cruise on Adventure a few years ago when they couldn't finish the renovation due to a hurricane. We got quite a nice FCC for it. I for one don't really care too much about the amplification (though I'll miss El Loco Fresh) so long as I'm actually on it in August!

Well I'm hoping that means the Champagne Bar will stay! Though I was looking forward to El Loco Fresh.

5 hours ago, rt1092 said:

That is entirely up to you. But you must be super-human. To be over 70 and not have a doctor.

Here, hardly anyone has "a doctor." Especially in the big towns and cities. You go to the GP when you're sick and you see a random doctor. That's it. No annual check-ups, no specific doctor. You'll be lucky if you see the same doctor twice! I dread to think how we'd go about getting a doctor's note here!

Loling at the vegetarian beef burger! Maybe they meant that you could also get it in a veggie burger option? Or maybe they meant to put it on the Gnocchi and it got put next to the wrong food! Either way, did you get the empanadas? Those are so good! Or at least they were when I had them a few years ago. Did you get a dessert from the lunch menu? Was wondering about the gelatin issue, as I would imagine the ganache tart would have it, but not sure about the cake. 

Yes, the Chops mushroom soup is very good and I have been told that it's vegetarian so I choose to believe it. I know what you mean about asking, it's really quite annoying having to constantly ask, but if you ask to speak to the Head Waiter, they will generally know more than your normal waiters and if they don't they will ask the chef. Also MDR should have a vegan menu if you don't mind eating vegan (I have to be careful with vegan food due to coconut allergy), plus they can always do pasta with a tomato based sauce if you don't see anything on the menu you like. Definitely speak to your Head Waiter though and things should (hopefully) go smoothly from there. They have in the past even made things off menu for me when there wasn't anything on the menu I liked/could eat. 

10 hours ago, dorifuta said:

So I think the veggie marker was incomplete/inconsistent.

Yep, it always has been. RCI have never been good with marking things as veggie or not.

Portofino! One of my favourite places in Italy, so beautiful!

Those cupcakes look amazing!

Thanks guys! Chocolate ravioli sounds nice! Though disappointed that there isn't a gnocchi available or more pasta options for veggies, but it is what it is. 

Oh that sucks you got glutened! Did you mention it to your Head Waiter? They really should be more on the ball with things like this. 

9 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Matt posted a menu on his site.  A few new entrees, pasta and the pizza.  Looks like a cross between Giovannis and Jamies with pizza added.  

What site is this posted on? Would like to have a nosey at the new menu.

Oh dear, I do hope that the food picks up for you. Who's the CD right now? Also loving those glasses!

19 minutes ago, webgal318 said:

How are they going to enforce these protocols? Just for example, look at b. Is the cruise line is relying on passengers to answer questions honestly on a form? 

Also how does one know if they've come into contact with someone who's been to those places in the last 15 days? I work with the public and see quite a lot of people on a regular basis. How do I know if those people have been to Lombardy in the past 15 days for example? Difficult to answer and difficult to enforce.

24 minutes ago, CatLadyFemme said:

awesome! Can I ask what your allergy is?

 

If it is useful, I've been veggie and GF on several other cruises, and have reviews up!

It's a weird one. Coconut. So I have to avoid most curries and certain Asian dishes and often some vegan food, that contain coconut milk, or anything made with coconut oil. I also can't drink coconut rum! 😭

Ooh, you don't often see vegetarian reviews, specifically with other dietary requirements too (veggie with food allergy here!) so I'm looking forward to reading your review!

As others have said, on a cruise out of Southampton formal nights tend to be more dressy than Caribbean cruises. There are still some that don't dress up, but it's the minority. I'd say that at least 70 - 80% of people onboard dress up on formal nights (even kids), even if it's just shirt, trousers, jacket for men and cocktail dress for women. Many do however wear tuxes, and long evening gowns (you may even see some kilts from the Scots).

Considering the cruise doesn't start in Italy, I don't see what the problem is. Royal can easily change the itinerary if it gets any worse to not go to Italy at all by either changing the ports or just making it another three sea days. I don't see any reason to cancel at this point. 

23 minutes ago, fragilek said:

 Not sure where in Spain you are going but I thought the ports may be a bit resorty for us .  I couldn't have been more wrong. Malaga was beautiful and we loved Cadiz too.  If stopping at either of them google a few photos before writing them off.  We were so impressed are actually thinking of a week or so  touring about Malaga to Seville

They won't be going that far South on a 6 day out of Southampton cruise. More like Vigo, La Coruna, or Gijon etc.

1 hour ago, BekkaW said:

Why would ice cream be included in a drink so package? I admit I am a very confused by this. Is this a common thing on other lines?

On MSC, which is what OP is used to, there is a package that includes gelato. 

50 minutes ago, shopaholic6 said:

‘Reinstate some confidence with the company’? It’s hardly their fault! Would you rather the cruise went ahead then? My confidence WOULD be reinstated, knowing Royal had done the most sensible thing in cancelling!

Personally, I think the "most sensible thing to do" would have been to cancel these cruises a week ago - not after people had flown 13+ hours across the world. That part is their fault. A little communication earlier in the week (even if it was to say "we may be cancelling these cruises, watch this space") would have gone a long way. 

I second the Sheraton Old San Juan - very close to port and lots of places nearby to eat, drink and buy your wine to take onboard. 

38 minutes ago, Magicat said:

The OP states he lives in China.  What kind of passport did he try to board with?  All Chinese and Hong Kong passport holders are being refused embarkation

Where did it say this? All I saw was that OP said they live in Asia, not where specifically.

Do you know if there was also a separate vegetarian menu? When we cruised Indy last year, they had both vegetarian and vegan choices on the separate menu but now it seems purely vegan. I can't eat the majority of vegan food as I'm allergic to coconut and often coconut milk is used as a substitute for milk or cream. 

I'm guessing they removed the ability to book flights with them when they changed the website because I could still book flights with RCI when I booked my cruise back in November. The UK website has since changed for the worse, so perhaps your best bet would be giving them a call. There also haven't been as many "all inclusive" deals for a while. There was one on sometime before I booked I believe, but I haven't seen any since. 

I've only done one NCL cruise (majority of the rest have been Royal) and whilst I felt the food was not as good on NCL (except the buffet which was better than Royal's) the service was great and on the Away ships there's so much for teens to do. The only problem with NCL is that I found there were more loud drunks than I've ever seen on Royal Caribbean, probably as nearly everyone on board had the drinks package, so if that's an issue for you with teens, maybe not, but I think NCL is probably the next best when it comes to activities for teens (except for Disney who have a great teen club apparantly).