kevin1551

Just got off a 7 night cruise on Navigator of the Seas out of LA. It saddens me how much Royal has declined. It was strange that there wasn't even crew welcoming you aboard. Not even people trying to sell food or beverage packages. If I hadn't been on many cruises I would have had no clue where to even go as it seemed like they've never done an embarkation. Guests smoked on their balconies throughout the cruise. I called guest services with the room number as it was near me and I could see them. Got a call a couple hours later that there was no evidence so there's nothing that can be done. Royal promenade also reeked of smoke from the casino, but not much can be done about that since the staircase to the casino is right in the middle. Food quality has declined even further since this last July. I bought the ultimate dining package since MDR was bad last cruise. Hooked seafood was such tiny portions. Claimed to be 4oz lobster, but it was hard to believe it was even 3oz. No more 2 lb crab stuffed whole lobster. Chops steaks really didn't seem to be prime grade and fish selection was Atlantic salmon, which I would never feed to anyone. Jamie's was decent, but I'd consider Olive Garden to be far better quality and taste. Went to Izumi once and cancelled our future reservations as the sushi was terrible. My parents went to chefs table and everyone seemed to agree it was a waste of 3 hrs and did not taste good. Breakfast in the MDR was terrible. No pastries available. I ordered the French toast and had dried out bread that seemed somewhat like French toast. Windjammer was the same low quality food every meal. Playmakers was the bright spot. We enjoyed the food there and ended up going back several times. Waterslides were frequently closed because there was wind. I'm not really sure effect wind has as the lifeguards were all still stationed there. Flowrider was still going, so it wasn't temperature related. Kids pool closed at 4:30 for some reason, guessing not enough lifeguard staff. Disembarkation was a mess as one of the gangway exits was down so there was a line wrapping down both sides of the exterior deck to get off and they kept calling groups anyways.

I've cruised out of Seattle in May and July to Alaska. Very smooth every day, didn't feel like you were on a ship at all. However I know people that have had rough seas when on the open ocean the first and last sea days.

Just got off Ovation yesterday. They definitely did have wow bands as I saw them many times along with announcements at each port that you had to use a sea pass to disembark as wow bands will not work.

Just got off the Solstice. Comic night 1 with a late night show on night 5. Broken Strings production show day 2. Singer day 3, who was not that great. Amadeus production show day 4. Musician day 5, who was quite good. Barricade Boys day 6, who were very good. Rock City production show day 7. The staff production shows were terrible. Usually there are a few good vocalists, but only one seemed to decent, the rest were similar to bad karaoke. I ended up leaving the shows as they weren't worth the time watching.

It's a dessert in Murano, I've had it there on the Solstice.

I'm sailing on the solstice on Feb 4th and have noticed that it appears that prime rib night is now gone from the MDR for all the current and upcoming Solstice sailings on the app.

I'm torn between two different cruises next year, round-trip out of Seattle. One 7 night on the Quantum of the Seas leaving June 26th, visiting Sitka, Skagway, Dawes glacier, and Juneau. The other 7 night is several hundred dollars more on the Ovation of the Seas leaving July 14th visiting Ketchikan, Skagway, Dawes Glacier, and Juneau. I'm thinking the second itinerary may have smoother sailing due to more inland waters and Ketchikan and Sitka are similar in their small town feel, so I'm not sure which to choose since I'm unsure of other differences.