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Day 3 - At Sea

I'm watching the sun come up over the ocean as I type this. I stepped out on the balcony a minute ago and it was definitely warm enough to be outside with a long-sleeved shirt (for me). I can't wait to get outside later today when it's sure to be lovely. We are about even with Jacksonville, and look to be halfway to St. Thomas.

The ship is definitely rolling quite a bit more than it has so far, but it's still not too bad. Ken Rush keeps telling us how lucky we are to be on the first cruise in a while that isn't being tossed about. I've certainly had time to adjust and get my sea legs, so I'm not complaining.

If you'd like to see wind, pressure, and wave conditions with a forecast up to a week out, here's a handy and fun site: http://passageweather.com

-----Heading to Breakfast--------------

So, on to our experience at Jamie's last night. The food was wonderful. I love antipasto, so the meat board was right up my alley. I took a photo, but will have to post it later after my phone recharges. It included prosciutto, two kinds of salami, and mortadella. There were olives of various sizes and colors, with more in a side bowl, and delicious capers as big as my thumb. Then there was a salad of fresh shredded root and summer vegetables in a lemon and spearmint sauce that was very fresh and good. Surprisingly, the fresh mozzarella in a mint sauce had virtually no flavor, and I love good mozzarella. Perhaps by that point it was just being overpowered by the other flavors and the big red wine we were drinking. The finale on the board was a crisp with a slice of pecorino romano topped with a bit of chili jam. I usually find pecorino to be too gamey and pungent to eat on its own, but this was really good and the sweet and spicy jam was a delicious pairing. We were also given a bowl with crispy crackers and olive tapenade that didn't have a ton of flavor, deep fried risotto balls in a chili sauce that didn't impress and wasn't spicy, and fried calamari that was amazingly tender and flavorful despite simple seasoning. I just topped that with lemon but DH said the aoili was wonderful.

For our main course, I had penne pomodoro in chilli (I swear it had two ll's) sauce. The pasta was freshly made and that was evident. It was great. The sauce was supposed to be spicy, but it wasn't at all. It did have a good smokey flavor. Our waiter was awesome and brought me some hot sauce from another location without me saying a word about it (I never complain about such things). I had told him I love spicy food and he must have known that the dish wasn't really spicy. At any rate, the hot sauce rectified the problem in short order. Mmmmm. DH got tagliatelle bolognaise and thought it was good but that there were probably better things on the menu. Nothing could rival the meat board.

As for the wine we drank, we didn't get the name of it before the menus left the table, but it was a medium bodied red wine (the full bodied were only by the bottle) that cost $18 a glass. After we ordered it, the waiter told us that the staff had selected it specifically to pair with the meat board. It was a really good match, with the high tannin level balancing out the fatty meats and cheeses.

For dessert DH had chocolate and salted caramel ice cream and thought they were good. I ordered the tart, but am not sure that that's what I got. The filling was a warm custard that tasted like rice pudding although I'm sure it didn't contain any rice. It was quite rich and had a caramelized topping. I thought it was truly delicious. I have a photo of the dessert menu, but it's on my recharging phone. We had espresso with our desserts and ordered the dessert wine, but they were out and offered a substitute that didn't pair very well because it wasn't sweet enough.

An interesting thing to check out on the ship are a set of electronic art displays outside of Schooners. People can draw on them, and then cartoon characters redraw their doodles at a later time. So if you find crude and detailed drawings of human anatomy highly amusing, as we apparently do, then this is a fun spot to hang out for a couple minutes. Seriously, I can't post photos of the images we've seen on display there right out in the middle of a busy walkway.

I just finished up a toasted egg, cheese, and ham breakfast sandwich from the Cafe at 270. It wasn't bad. DH said the croissant sandwich wasn't great.

Why not go to the spa & reschedule?

We went to guest services and they straightened it out. We're all set.

We board the Quantum march 1 and was wondering if we can pre-pay the internet service or do we have to get it once on board?

 

Also, do you have to get it in guest services?, or can we do it somewhere else?

 

thanks!

You have to wait until you're on the ship. You just try to get to any website from your browser and click through the log in and payment agreements. No need to go to guest services. They give you a paper on how to do it at boarding.

The Music Hall was my favorite place on the ship at night. I had great tribute bands on both of my cruises. Beatles, Led Zeppelin, U2 and the house band Horizon was great. Do you know who the tribute band is going to be on your cruise?

We don't know yet, but hope to find out soon.

I thought Music Hall would be a blast, and it should have been. The venue is gorgeous and the cover band rocked. But the stage was completely surrounded by grumpy, angry looking people who looked like they had never had a happy moment their entire lives. Seriously, if you're not enjoying this, go somewhere else so other people can dance and have fun. We have nicknamed them the Quantum Zombies.

Jamie's was excellent. More on that tomorrow. Now we're at Music Hall listening and dancing to the house band, Horizon.

Waiting to be seated at Jamie's. They seem to be running a few minutes behind, but I'm excited about the menu.

We've been inside all day today because it's been cold out, but it's been partly sunny and we enjoyed sitting in the sun in solarium earlier. It's cool on the balcony, but not frigid.

As we ate lunch, we discussed how impressed we are with the atmosphere and activities on the interior of the ship. The decor is stunning and it feels warm and relaxing throughout -- not at all like a mall, as we had feared. And it's not too crowded. RCI really has done a good job making the interior a place you want to spend time. And that's a necessity for a ship that makes voyages where it's too cold to go out on deck for days on end.

Lunch at Uzumi was wonderful and was some of the best sushi I've ever had. They brought out salted edamame as a complimentary appetizer. We shared tuna nigiri, eel nigiri, and two rolls: dragon eel and crispy spicy tuna. The eel was great (DH always calls it "bacon of the sea") and the spicy tuna was coated with Panko and lightly fried around the sides (the manager confirmed this with DH). It was spicy, which isn't always the case in sushi advertised as "spicy," so we were happy with it. The flavors were excellent.

We also had a dry sake that was some of the best I've had. I didn't get the name since we didn't have the bottle at our table and it wasn't on the menu. They overheated it a bit, but it was at the proper temperature in no time.

Mamma Mia was really good. The first half was amazing. The second half was a little slow, but still nice. The encore pieces were fun and lasted for a long time. If you sit kind of on the sides, you can see a monitor showing the director down in the orchestra pit. The guy played keyboard while directing the band the entire time. I found that impressive.

One thing we didn't expect - everyone has been told to set their clocks ahead an hour tonight. From what we'd read before, we thought the ship stayed on the same time the entire cruise. I'm glad that we're changing to the timezone for St. Thomas because I thought keeping up with ship time and land time would be a little confusing. Ken Rush said we'd get the hour back somewhere between ports, so I'm not sure when we'll change back.

As I said before, the wifi package for two devices allows you to disconnect any device and add another at any time. So it's really unlimited devices, but only two at any one time. I have switched back and forth between my laptop and phone a couple times today without any hassle or problem.

I apologize for not answering all of your questions. I want to blog about most or all of our experiences, but I also want to spend as much time as I can relaxing and enjoying the journey. Thanks to everyone for following along.

Intermission for Mamma Mia. ABBA is a little before our time and although I love music, Broadway musicals aren't generally my thing, but this show is excellent. The music is amazing.

I think the snacks are not included (fees applies!!). Be carefull! ;)

 

Bon voyage!!

Thanks, we guessed that. Besides the roses, my parents also sent chocolates, chocolate covered strawberries, and Champagne (not pictured). They were all labeled as gifts.

We had a great lunch at Uzumi. Details this evening!

Oops, didn't realize I hit send. DH knew the white zin was a sweet wine, but some friends in a wine class we recently completed who had similar taste in wines kept recommending Berringer. With the drinks package it was a no risk trial.

To be fair to DH, he knew

Ha. I thought it was odd that this fume blanc was oaked. Turns out the bartender gave me the chardonnay instead (I couldn't see the label when he poured it). No harm, no foul. I got to try something new, and it doesn't cost any extra with the drinks package.

Time for an aperitif before lunch. This is the wine menu at the bar in 270. I'm having the fume blanc, which the bartender said was his favorite after I ordered it. It is quite good. DH is having the Berringer rose, which is a little sweet for his taste.

Took a dip in the hot tub. Time to relax with a book.

you are too funny...love your post...its like being on 2 vacations ...we get on ship 3/1...how far down til you hit warmer weather...

Not sure. The outside deck 5 is closed because of cold. It was 39 degrees out earlier, which is already balmy in comparison to what we were in yesterday.

Guest services was very helpful and was able to reschedule our spa appointment since Mama Mia was moved (see DH's post earlier about why).

I enjoyed sitting in the giant swing in 270 with my love. Now we're in cushy armchairs looking out at the ship's wake. Very calm and relaxing.

Some hilariously disturbing art in the ship's hallway.

Just had breakfast at Windjammer. I've had better free breakfasts at chain hotels. But that's what I expected. So far, Disney beats the pants off of RCI, food wise.

Interesting tidbit - the shower is surrounded by clear plexiglass, so if your stateroom is laid out like ours and you left the bathroom door and balcony curtain open, you could see the ocean from in there. Most entertaining leg shaving ever!

Day 2 - At Sea

We are just south of Richmond, VA this morning, traveling at 17.7 knots. The ship has been extremely steady the entire time. In fact, I looked outside once during the night because I was afraid we had stopped for some reason because there was so little motion.

We have one real complaint, so far. We made all of our reservations for shows, activities, and meals two months ago. When looking at them online, they were correct in one place and incorrect in another. So DH confirmed with RCI before we left that they were what we wanted. After boarding, we found a printed schedule of our reservations in our room, and it's wrong. We also looked at our reservations on the iRoyal app, and they're wrong as well - in a different way. We'll be at guest services again today because we were supposed to have a couple's treatment at the spa at 1 and Mama Mia at 4, but now our schedule says Mama Mia at 2 and no sign of our spa reservation. If that time is true for Mama Mia and our spa reservation is still good, we won't be able to do both. Frustrating, to say the least.

But I don't want to end this post on a bad note. We are really enjoying the ultimate drinks package. It covers up to $12 for any alcoholic drink and you don't have to sign anything. It also covers all other kinds of softdrinks on the ship, including Starbucks coffees at the pastry shop. I had two glasses of wine last night and was impressed by the quality. One was Pine Ridge chenin blanc/viognier blend (California). The other was a dry sparkling rose which paired well with the Asian food at Silk. I can't remember the label or varietal. I plan on taking more notes today on food and drinks.

Oops. I hardly slept at all last night (Bonine has the opposite effect on me and keeps me wide awake), but I dozed off around 4:30. When I looked at my watch a few minutes ago it said 8:30. I swear it did. So DH got up and took a shower while I wrote this. It wasn't until he got out that I noticed it was only 6:45. No wonder it was so dark out - we just thought it was really overcast (which it is).

I am EXTREMELY thankful that DH is a morning person and very easy going. He thinks it's funny I woke him up so early and is looking forward to grabbing breakfast soon. Since sleep is rare for me to come by (all the time, not just on a ship), I probably would have tossed him off the balcony if he'd done the same to me.

So there's a nap in our future sometime today and continued gratefulness toward DH (who happens to be freaking out because he can watch Big Bang Theory in German).

Up to how many devices does the $180 internet package cover?

It covers two devices, but the nice thing is that you can disconnect a device at any time and add another one - so it's two devices at any one time. We haven't tried that yet, but I plan to this morning. I'm going to sign off with this laptop and sign in with my phone to make it easier to post photos and small updates as we go through our day.

We went for a quick dip in the hot tubs in the solarium. It was really cold in there. A crew member explained that it was because it was "negative twenty outside." I can buy that because the place is surrounded by windows. lol The hot tub was plenty warm, so it was fine.

Listening to the reggae band again, and they're doing a Bob Marley set. We're big Marley fans and saw Ziggy Marley in concert last year at Firefly Festival, and I think these guys are as good or better.