Rogueperson

Today’s a slow day. Here’s the current situation. I’m in the Diamond Lounge. Only one person here. Scratch that, two more people just came in. Wife is still out. I’ve confirmed that since we are technically on board already, and Canada has recently dropped their testing mandate, we are not required to be tested. I CANNOT MAKE GUARANTEES ABOUT PROTOCOL FOR CHECK IN FOR THOSE BOARDING TOMORROW. You should be safe and get a negative test as that is still the current protocol. I have enough experience now to talk about my feelings about the UDP (Ultimate Dining Package). After tonight, I will have had 2 snacks from Johnny Rockets, 3 lunches at Chops, 2 dinners at Gionanni’s and one at Izumi’s and Chops and Chef’s Table. This is my review. UDP says you have to schedule all your dining in the beginning. In that aspect, its less flexible. Chops today was really busy for lunch. Also, i believe it was the only specialty restaurant open as Izumi’s had the sushi making class and Giovanni’s was where Taste of Royal was held. I think if you tried to walk in without reservations, you would have been turned away, though the restaurant was not full, service was still slow because i think there was only a handful of staff to operate the restaurant. Is it worth it? Depends on how much you paid for it. I got it for 50 dollars less per person than the current pricing. 110/person plus tip. That comes out to 22/day/person. In that aspect, i scored a great deal. Last I checked it was sitting at about 165/person. Even at 165/person, i think it would still be a good value considering lunch and the snacks I got. Downside. The menus are limited, especially lunch. We pretty much got to try everything but its getting a little tedious now. I love chili cheese fries, but i can only eat it so many times. I’ve had more steak this week than the last six months. It also assumes that all the restaurants are good and you want to eat there, if you don’t like a restaurant for whatever reason, the others have to carry the slack and makes your choices even more limiting. So my verdict is that the UDP is good for 5 days or less. 5 days is pushing it though. Any more and I think I would get tired of it. It is not worth it if you want to jump back and forth between specialty and regular menus. If you are on a short cruise. Get it and you’ll enjoy yourself.

@mets123 This is the bourbon in the store. Not much really.

I realized i didn't answer you fully. We did not have prior notification of the theme nights, but i’m pretty sure it was on the app about a week before. I can’t remember but I knew the 70s night and our planned chef’s table was on the same day.

Awww. Its a little rough today. Between overdoing it last night and the rougher seas today, my wife is feeling a little seasick. She left me to my own devices for lunch, which is Chops again.

I get a discount with the UDP. It was $49.99/person with tip so it was $58.99/person. Taste of Royal and Sushi Sake’ lunch are not included either, but have a similar discount with the UDP.

The letter says wellness screening so we might test in the terminal.

@KATHYMAC68 I got nothing as of noon today, so being paranoid, i went to guest services. They gave me this. I asked about testing as i didn’t see anything about it. *DISCLAIMER*. THIS IS WHAT I AM TOLD FOR ME AND CONSECUTIVE CRUISERS. FOR THOSE BOARDING ON THE NEXT LEG, THIS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. I was told by guest services that I am not required to be tested. I will confirm again a little later but thats what i’ve been told.

yes and no. I knew about it. It was last night. I missed the 70s Party as Chef’s Table lasted over 4 hours. As my post said, it was an amazing one. The 70s party actually moved to the Blue Moon Lounge from the Promenade. The picture was taken at about 1am. It never let down. I normally don’t see this kind of energy. Impressive.

So, I’m a little behind. At Sail away, 5 people were missing. I’ve never had that detail before. Two came up about 5 minutes till 5. Technically they made it, but they were pier runners. They got picked up at the edge of the pier and driven up. I got video, but i’m not posting because video is almost impossible to post with this setup. The other 3 were still on the Ferry. They could have been left, but the Captain decided to wait. They were literally picked up at the ferry and shuttled over. Technically pier runners, but they didn’t run. I did get video of the walk of shame. So last night was Chef’s Table. I do it every cruise, but i count this b2b as 1 cruise so I’m not doing it again, unless they offer a great deal. The menu is wrong with the wine. I will post the actual pairings. The truffle bread from 150 Central Park Scallops Carpaccio with pairing. Smoked Tomato soup (before and after) with pairing. I’ve noted before that the menu hasn’t changed but each chef puts its own flair to it. I don’t know what he did, but this was the best tomato soup i’ve ever had. I don’t normally like tomato soup and the Chef’s table one is genuinely good. But this one immediately jumped a magnitude higher. I noted that this one was lighter than normal Lobster Salad and pairing. Shame. Shame. Shame. I missed the Branzino photo. This was what it was paired with. Filet Mignon and pairing. Filet was absolutely amazing. The perfect steak. And for Dessert, the World from Wonderland. Not pictured is the Espresso Martini which was delicious this time. This drink runs the gambit from watered down to amazing. This one was amazing. All in all, this Chef’s Table was awesome. I’ve never had a bad Chef’s Table, but some are better than others. There were some firsts. First time i had a round table for the venue. As you can see, we are overlooking the main dining room. When i did this on Navigator, it was really loud, but this was manageable. Another First. Tonight, they had the parade through the dining room. Never had a line of waiters dance through Chef’s Table. Another First. One couple had a delayed anniversary. Our server banged out a version of Endless Love out of the blue and her voice was AMAZING. All this together made it one of the most memorable Chef’s Table.

Oh my god!!! I am sorry for the last post. I glitched and double tapped some of the cruise compasses. I spent the next 20 minutes trying to edit it out and every time i clicked the photo to delete, it would open its own page. Going back meant it reloaded the entire cruise critic page or timed out causing me to have to reload the page yet again. When i FINALLY succeeded, cruise critic locked me out because too much time had passed since i posted it.

Good Morning from the Atlantic. I neglected to post yesterday’s cruise compass. This is yesterdays. And this is todays.

I’m seriously getting my money’s worth with the UDP. I’m at Johnny Rockets again for chili cheese fries snack. I didn’t want to eat something major before dinner which is early today. FYI, they would charge you $7.07 for this snack. They just tried to charge me by mistake. I would never actually pay the upcharge for chili cheese fries. Shoot, i’m not even sure if chili and cheese is in the WJ. But at this time, WJ is not open so that point is moot. The chili and cheese is similar to the chili cheese from Seven Eleven, but sometimes, it just hits the spot. Though not worth 7 bucks. I think the Seven Eleven Nachos are cheaper. Maybe. I know they are bigger. I hope next leg isn’t going to feel dull without the UDP, but i doubt it. I’ve always enjoyed the MDR food.

Yup. I own that. Whats truly absurd is spilling the coffee while showing someone why i was spilling coffee. 😝. Fortunately, the wife didn’t see it. She would never let me live that one down.

ugh, i never passed the sign again so i didn’t get a picture. Sorry. Instead, we just took the ferry over to Hamilton and then came back.

I should note that this is a limited time event. Tuesdays and Thursdays i think. Its actually a little different on the webpage than the sign on the dock. When i go back out, I’ll get a picture of it.

Good Morning from Bermuda. A friend of mine clued me in to a *free* historical tour. It started at the Stargate here at the cruise port. (Its a stargate to me, they call it a moon gate) So a bunch of people in costumes are pretty much acting as historical figures which we encounter throughout the tour. It was a lot of fun especially since its a free tour.

Yea, you can go to the counter and order a shake with your drink package or diamond voucher. I did it yesterday on Adventure. However, it does NOT work for ben and jerrys (at least the diamond voucher doesn’t) I heard that if you wanted just sides like a chili cheese fries and drink, they could charge you 1/2 price for that. I had the UDP, so i could just get the snack today and not worry about it but the table close to me inquired about the snack.

Ran out? Never got the supplies? I was just informed before ordering that it would not have a bone in it. Maybe they shipped it here? 🤣

We got to see the ice show tonight. Cool Art, Hot Ice. Its not bad. I just don’t know what it was about. After the show, was Chops’ turn at dinner. Menu against my better judgment, I got the crab cakes. Umm, yeah. Not good. Yeah? i maybe biased being born in maryland but i didn’t think crabs could be overcooked. It was really dry and flavorless. So i sent it back. Tuna tartare. This was great. I wish the fish at Izumis was this good. Black Peppered Bacon. I think its the same thing they used in Giovanni’s pork belly except they put BBQ sauce on it. Still good. Ribeye. They warned me it was not bone in. Still great. And with that, I’m stuffed and done.

This is a royal Caribbean excursion. Bermuda drive by minibus. Or something like that. This was a mini-bus, we had 18 people on our bus. Not too bad. Pretty much filled the bus. It wasn’t too crowded. Made plenty of shorts stops

Most of it. We made it all the way to St. George which is on the other side of the island. The ferry port is being renovated so the ferry service has been suspended since July. The residents are mad because they are losing half their tourist season and they initially said it would take 5 weeks in July and its still shut down.

I hadn’t planned on stopping at Johnny Rockets, but when i got back from the tour, i hadn’t had lunch. As i said, the tour didn’t give quite enough time for a proper lunch so i didnt eat until i got back on the ship. The UDP gave me an option for a snack there. I love me some chili cheese fries. Just enough to tide me over until dinner tonight. Afterwards we went to the Diamond Lounge. Forgot they had some food too. One thing i found thats awesome i never had before. They had a rice krispie treat mixed with fruity pebbles. Genius!

I have not been given any notification yet. I already completed Arrivecan. My wife is going to the room right now. If there’s a notification, she will tell me, though i forgot two days is tomorrow, not today. I’ve already forgotten what day it is.

I am not the best person to ask. I can ask, but not sure where as i think some bars don’t stock everything. Also, they get supplies after each cruise so what we have now may not be true when you cruise. Or are you asking about the actual liquor store onboard. I can’t check that until tomorrow as the store won’t open until we leave tomorrow.

Oh, I should add it that I saw very little Fiona damage. Had i not tracked the storm like i did, I wouldn’t have known the island got hit. They’re that good. Friday Morning, 70% of the island lost power. Sunday morning, pretty much everyone got their power back.