Hoopster on HARMONY, Jan 7-14 2017 REVIEW w/lots of photos

[racerxspeedy]

Many of you following along have likely read many of the comments on various threads about how the worst pool deck in the RCL fleet is on Radiance Class, and that Radiance Class, while the favorite of many regulars here on CC, is no where close to being my fave at all.....

 

Well.... que the "I told you so's"! lol.

I'm sure all you PNs and D+'ers out there would figure good old Hoopster would come around at some point....

 

We were close to docking and I walked to the port side to view our proximity to the pier as Capt Johnny had pulled ahead and then put Harmony into reverse to back into the pier... and there she was in all her glory.... Jewel! I literally stopped in my tracks and grinned, I could not believe what I was thinking. At that very moment, I actually said to myself inside my head "I wish I was on Jewel instead". I know, I know, all you Radiance lovers out there are all laughing at me now, elbowing your significant others "HONEY, come here! LOOK AT THIS!!! Hoopster actually prefers Radiance Class now!!!" lol

 

 

 

Yep I'll be on Jewel in Aug/Sept far a b2b. I was just on her last December as well prior to Explorer and Adventure, and I quickly determined that regarding these first 4 days on Harmony as my criteria, I was longing for those "smaller" classes over Oasis Class. I also quickly thought that if RCL continues to build more and more Oasis Class ships going to Nassau and Cozumel over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and ..... whew! over again, that the RCL mega ship resort brand will slowly be losing my business.

"Long live Voyager and Radiance Class!" {torches and pitchforks in hand. marching in Miami to the RCL's head office front door} LOL!!!!

 

 

Ok.... back to the port side to take a closer look at Jewel.

 

 

 

As we pulled up beside her, I took a close up of her brand new deck 11 balcony cabins just below the gym and running track... that's my only concern for Jewel. I noticed on Navigator with all of her new cabins that she was more crowded than my previous Voyager Class sailings, and hopefully the few cabins added to Jewel during her drydock last year doesn't add too many more people as Radiance Class has the best public space per passenger ratio of any of the RCL ships. My b2b in Aug/Sept will be Greek Isles plus a very cool Western Med itinerary, 5 ports in 6 nights including Monaco, Barcelona (9am-9pm), Palma De Mallorca, Sardenia and Cagliari... superb. Can't wait!!

 

 

 

And now Grandeur was backing in and parking right in front of Jewel. My understanding was Grandeur's port time was 8am - 2pm so also the first to leave in the afternoon. Ugh... too short a time in port for St Marten.

 

 

It was Interesting to hear that being on Harmony made you miss being on Jewel. We just sailed Oasis then Jewel. We enjoyed the small crowd, layed back feel of Jewel, but miss the Oasis level entertainment, and nightly activities. Each has +\-'s, but I still give the edge to Oasis class ships. The Jewel itineraries can't be beat though.

 

Sorry to hear your excursion in St Martin was less than expected, but the pictures looked great!!

[Hoopster95]

It was Interesting to hear that being on Harmony made you miss being on Jewel. We just sailed Oasis then Jewel. We enjoyed the small crowd, layed back feel of Jewel, but miss the Oasis level entertainment, and nightly activities. Each has +\-'s, but I still give the edge to Oasis class ships. The Jewel itineraries can't be beat though.

 

Perfectly said. I too feel entertainment is the #1 strength on this ship. The real underlying issue I have is that Oasis won't be going to Juneau, Papeete, St Petersburg, Kotor, Venice, Rio/Buenos Aires, etc... anytime soon. RCL wants me on Oasis Class to buy the drink package and spend all my time and money on board as if I had booked an all inclusive on land in Mexico for example and never left the resort.... and that is fantastic if that is what you want! But this is not my goal in the years to come. This past year I've been researching Azamara for example... and especially Oceania :)

 

Btw, in Wonderland we sat beside a super nice "experienced" couple who are D, but sail a lot on Oceania as well and they couldn't stop talking about the all inclusive experience there, and especially the food and service, let alone some of the incredible itineraries they had done. They implored me to try it.

 

 

 

Sorry to hear your excursion in St Martin was less than expected, but the pictures looked great!!

 

Thx racer. It was just my time for a more challenging week than normal! There wasn't a day here I can look back and say, "man, that was the perfect day of the 7 days we just had"... there wasn't one unfortunately. No biggie, means the next vacay will be spectacular! :D

[Hoopster95]

We enjoyed sailaway from several vantage points, including our balcony when we were a little further out, and began getting ready for the evening. Tonight we wanted to be relatively casual, and I was eager to try Sabor... I had one of my very favorite RCL meals ever at Sabor on Navigator and have read mixed reviews of Sabor on Allure for example, so was very interested to experience this here.

 

The plan was to head up to the sports deck and use the Abyss for the first time to get down to Sabor! Sounded like fun. So up we went, and here's one of my first shots looking down from the zip-line landing area. I did the zip-line once on Oasis... a total fad. For novelty of the 4 seconds you get going across to say "been there done that" is about all it's good for, so it didn't even come to mind to try the zip-line here on Harmony

 

 

 

Night time boogie boarding and surfing was in full swing and well attended

 

 

 

 

And there was the Abyss! but we weren't allowed on as gf brought a hand bag with her. So there went that plan to get down to Sabor! Ah well, no problem as it afforded us time to leisurely walk and enjoy the ship a little bit more.

 

 

 

On either side of the Abyss at the railings are about 8-10 stool-like chairs affording incredible aft views of the ocean as well as the Aqua Theatre. With the Wipe-Out Bar right there it seemed like an awesome place to hang out during the day even for just a little bit. We grabbed a D+ wine up there and just simply looked around and watched the activities for a couple of minutes before moving on. Here's the view down to the Aqua Theatre

 

 

 

Passing back through the Sports Court heading forward and away from the Abyss, this mural is at the back between the two table tennis areas, just before Mini-Bites

 

[Hoopster95]

I thought to myself that if Central Park and Boardwalk were so beautiful at night, that the rest of top deck would be as well. So we hed past the elevator shaft and out mid-ship deck 16. Harmony did not disappoint here

 

 

 

Making our way forward to the center bridge above Central Park, I took these photos looking back at the Viking Cro... er ... suites only venue and then forward towards the slides where I took one of my fave pictures of the trip

 

 

 

 

And a couple more of the pool and slides a little closer up. Note the second photo of a slider coming out at the bottom... the slides are open in the evening but I did not get the info of until when. I am sure if you download and zoom into the compasses I post it'll show there.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

We quickly popped into and walked around in the Solarium as well... not as impressive as the Quantum Solarium at night, but still pretty

 

 

 

 

It was time for dinner... we were getting hungry! Making our way down through to the Boardwalk on foot rather than via the Abyss, we got to Sabor to a half empty venue. Note that by day 4 I did not see any available openings in any non-MDR restaurant other than Sabor and Solarium Bistro evening dining, so definitely Sabor was not regarded as a must-do by most.

 

 

 

 

While not a totally awesome as my Navigator experience, we had a great meal. The food was fresh and delicious, the hand made guacamole table side was great, excellent margarita's... really great meal for the evening and super nice to be casual in shorts and outside. I can see why this isn't a hugely popular venue though... the bill with the margarita's was $60 so I suspect many would say "Why spend $60 for Mexican when I can have a free meal in the MDR?" Point taken, and I agree. It was nice to try and considered this dinner better quality than Jamie's, but I won;t have to try it again. I think RCL should include Sabor as an option in the "Eat, Drink, Play" promo and allow cruisers to use the benefit in Sabor to fill up that venue rather than Johnny Rockets.

 

 

 

We headed up to our cabin to freshen up before evening events and dancing, and a rescheduled "Fine-Line" was in full swing. I watched for a little bit as we got ready as we were booked for the Headliner at 10:30 in the Theatre. Here's what an Aqua Theatre show looks like from our balcony

 

[Hoopster95]

I had no clue who this Headliner was other than reading on our roll call about this Rock Band who was hired as the Headliner and they would have hundreds of people coming on board. Initially months ago the scare was that it would be a charter or half charter, but didn't even come close. Speaking with some of their supporters, they had around 300 people on board.

 

Bottom line.... BEST headliner ever!!!!!

 

When they start up you figure they just you're average rock band... I tell you, they know how to get the crowd going. Their "shtick" is playing a 30min long non-stop medley of popular cover songs called "30 songs in 30 minutes"... it's a brilliant set and they cover everything from Journey to Michael Jackson to Bruno Mars... and then back to Queen, Foreigner, Eddie Money... you name it! They did 3 shows, and they performed 3 different medleys in each show... again brilliant

 

 

 

And here's some samples of your Royal Caribbean cruisers standing and/or singing along to all the great music, clapping/dancing, best interaction for a headliner from a dead silence at the beginning to standing ovation at the end

 

[YOUTUBE]OTMJE1hPd5A[/YOUTUBE]

 

 

Here's another longer video as I wanted to capture most all of the Queen performance. The lead singer is awesome. I really hope these guys make it big someday...

 

Fast forward to just before the two minute mark... the lead singer asks the crowd "Let's make this a party tonight!"... he does not say stand up or please clap along.... note what the crowd of cruisers like you and I do. We were totally into this band and unfortunately this video and especially the lack of quality of sound doesn't do it justice. I pan around to look at the crowd.... remember these guys are live, listen to the quality of instrument play and vocals

 

Great stuff 7th Heaven!... Thx for a great show

 

[YOUTUBE]w817tHlkybs[/YOUTUBE]

[Hoopster95]

This 10:30 Headliner show went on pretty late (a little over an hour), and we did want to get up early'ish for our 7am arrival in San Juan the next day, so instead of staying for some dancing we headed straight to bed after the show.

 

Here are Day 4 compasses for you

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 24, 2017 by Hoopster95

[KSb1974]

Hoopster95- THANK YOU FOR YOUR AMAZING REVIEW- not just of the ship and cruise but of 7th Heaven. I work for them and was one of your fellow sailers- this means the most to us that you would write something so thoughtful of us! Thank you again and I hope that more fellow cruisers felt the same way! :)

[ValerieJo]

Hoopster95- THANK YOU FOR YOUR AMAZING REVIEW- not just of the ship and cruise but of 7th Heaven. I work for them and was one of your fellow sailers- this means the most to us that you would write something so thoughtful of us! Thank you again and I hope that more fellow cruisers felt the same way! :)

 

Wow! 7th Heaven sounds like it's right up my alley as far as a Headliner goes. Any idea if you guys will be on the March 11 sailing of Harmony? Would love to see a performance.

[Hoopster95]

Hoopster95- THANK YOU FOR YOUR AMAZING REVIEW- not just of the ship and cruise but of 7th Heaven. I work for them and was one of your fellow sailers- this means the most to us that you would write something so thoughtful of us! Thank you again and I hope that more fellow cruisers felt the same way! :)

 

Ah!!! You're so welcome :D

There are only a true handful of headliners I can go back on in over 30+ RCL cruises where I can remember the exact name of the act and everything they performed... 7th Heaven is for sure #1 on that list.

 

They shouldn't be a cruise act, they should have a recording contract. It would be so awesome in the next couple of years if they do end up making it big and touring, showing up in Vancouver to open up for a major act for example... I'll be buying tickets to brag that I "discovered" these guys on RCL lol! :p

 

p.s. all you Chicagoans I met were all totally awesome by the way, really nice people.

[balcony4u]

I have been on Oasis and Allure, and the WindJammer on Harmony is by far the best! The others felt closed in and dark. My husband really wanted to go to the WindJammer for lunch when we boarded and I was sad, but went:-) Man was I surprised! It was light, airy, and just plan beautiful. I never thought I would say that, but I was so impressed!

[Hoopster95]

I have been on Oasis and Allure, and the WindJammer on Harmony is by far the best! The others felt closed in and dark. My husband really wanted to go to the WindJammer for lunch when we boarded and I was sad, but went:-) Man was I surprised! It was light, airy, and just plan beautiful. I never thought I would say that, but I was so impressed!

 

Interesting! I read so many times at how the Oasis and Allure WJs are so small and crowded. I couldn't believe how nice the WJ was on Harmony when I walked in... Thank you for sharing the comparison :)

[EZBUCKS]

I was wondering what they serve at mini bites on Harmony.

Thanks

[Hoopster95]

I was wondering what they serve at mini bites on Harmony.

Thanks

 

I'm not the right one to ask... I understand breakfast is served there but to what extent I don't know. If it's anything like lunch then I'm glad I didn't bother checking... I noted once when passing through that lunch was burger/fries/nacho chips and chili. Most everyone I ever saw sitting at the bench seating of the area were all teenagers/kids.

[Hoopster95]

Today's schedule:

 

San Juan 7am - 2pm

Johnny Rockets

Abyss & Perfect Storm Slides

Dinner at 150 Central Park

 

I wish to mention here to those of you looking for some great Old San Juan info and tips, I have a very good pre-cruise full day and 1/2 review with tons great photos of both forts and the major parts of Old Town in my Adventure review here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=50911647&highlight=Day+0#post50911647

Take a look at the above link for the best Old San Juan info as this review here you will get only minimum info of only the very short time of this morning with much fewer tips and pictures, and I'm definitely limiting this part of the review today to the minimum...

 

 

The alarm went off waaaay too early this morning. After having a rougher night sleep the night before and being up really early for St Marten sail-in, my lingering sinus cold came back with some force and this 2nd day in a row early morning wake-up wasn't going to help any. Nonetheless, looking outside we began to get ready for the day. Looking back on my photos I realize now I don't have a regular morning shot for this day out on my balcony, and I figure it was because the aft end was facing outward from Old San Juan, so not much of a photo to take. This morning we headed down to the DL for our normal coffee ritual but we also had quick breakfast there as well so that we can conveniently make our way off the ship. Soon enough, we were out and there weren't many others from Harmony out with us

 

 

 

Thankfully from the change in itinerary I'm certainly glad we had the opportunity to visit somewhere, but truthfully a 7am - 1:30 all aboard is really a tough time frame. I've been to San Juan 3 times in the last year and a half, including a couple of pre and post cruise days, so I've covered most every tourist/tour destination including a full day rainforect/bioluminesense full day.night tour to Farjado last year. We considered various options (beach, biking, even an RCL excursion, etc), but simply settled on walking the town to look at buildings and architecture (gf's the designer and space planner remember). So we went on our way

 

 

 

The only major building gf did not see back on our Adventure cruise this past August was the Senate building (El Capitolio de Puerto Rico) just East of the San Cristobal Fort. Making our way up past Plaza Colon but one block south of of San Cristobal I realized right then and there I had not been down this street... I had always been up on the north side against the Ocean. I soon realized that this was the Walkway of the Presidents that I had never seen before

 

 

 

 

The building was open early and there were a few tours and guides going through. I had been in this building before, but only the main floor was open to guests at that time. Today, the entire building seemed free to roam through and we were able to go in and out of the various hallways, take a quick look at the museum, and most fun of all head up to the third floor via the impressive marble staircases to get a close up view of the intricate mosaics in the dome. The mosaics at the four "corners" of the the dome tell the story of Puerto Rico's history. I have several close up's of the artwork... spectacular. Really take it all in if you ever get the chance to visit here

 

 

 

Walking back down the front steps we walked around to the back... er... front.... er north side of the building

 

[Hoopster95]

That north side of the building runs adjacent to the "Plaza De La Democracia" and then across the street against the ocean to the famed Plaza San Juan Bautista

 

 

 

It was here that all of a sudden the skies opened and the rain began very quickly to come down hard. We scurried up the steps of the building to get undercover and figured the weather may not be in our favor yet again today, but the rain lasted maybe 10 minutes tops, suddenly giving way to blue sky and a very nice rest of the morning.

 

 

 

 

Note that this street , the main route of heavy traffic that brings in cars from the freeway, was a major construction zone and bottle neck in august. I had thought at the time they were doing infrastructure and other type of work... well in fact they were building an awesome promenade and bike lane, adding gardens and paths along the whole stretch. It's really nicely done and makes for an excellent 30-40 minute walk to get from Old Town to Condado.

 

 

Edited January 25, 2017 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

We walked down the block and back down to the Walkway of the Presidents to check out the 8 life size sculptures of the various Presidents that have visited Puerto Rico. Here I am with Obama... I wonder if we'll ever see Trump here!!

 

 

 

 

 

Still very early in the morning, it was here we made a mistake which cost us a good hour of our already very short time frame. I had heard of an area much like "little Havana" or Miami still with an Art Deco flare and gf was super interested to see if we can visit. I had originally thought we can walk around Condado, but two different people told us we can perhaps have better luck and a good walk around the Isla Verde area. Well that was a mistake.... after a 20min $20 taxi to that area, we were dropped off at the beach and we began to explore. We spoke to a couple of people who pretty much said there wasn't anything there to really see other than the various resorts and hotels, as well as the beach. I wasn't worried, but gf was concerned with being so far away from the ship and Old Town (ie, traffic accidents, traffic jams, etc). So after only 20min hanging around there we called the taxi driver back and he dropped us off in Plaza Colon.

 

In the meantime I took note that Isla Verde has a decent Beach and has a specific marine protected area that is well known for snorkelling. A local restaurant just across the street there offer chairs and umbrellas for the day for $14 along with the use of their bathrooms and lunch/drink specials... I'll have to check this out one day to get away from the crowds in the future.

 

 

 

 

I wish to note here that I saw a hop-on hop-off for the very first time. I found out that this is a new service that just started 2 months before, offering a red line and blue line route. Each route is approx 2 hours... this may be an option for any of you wanting a tour around the entire city of San Juan and not only Old Town.

 

[perfect match]

I am really enjoying your tour of Harmony. Hope I can fit her into our schedule soon. I also want to try a Radiance class ship. So many ships, so little time! :eek:

 

I believe your first review of Capt Bob's tour was one of the reviews that convinced us to book with him on our last stop in St Maarten. Mostly, we loved our tour. The one thing we didn't enjoy was the family with 3 young boys who were totally out of control on our boat. Our boat Capt did his very best with trying to calm them down. Their parents, well, they just drank more beer. Our snorkeling stops were pretty decent, lunch was excellent, and we weren't rushed at all. Overall, we had a really good day which would have been a great day if we didn't have to deal with the 3 little human ping pong balls (boys) constantly trying to jump into the water while the boat was going full speed ahead. :eek:

[Hoopster95]

We spent the rest of the morning walking the entire length of San Juan from east to west along one of the lesser streets called Calle de Luna, starting at Plaza Colon and ending up down by the San Juan Gate

 

 

 

 

Be sure to take in the various architecture and artwork along the way. There are some beautiful buildings that need some major TLC... this Old Town could simply be spectacular with some money infused into it.

 

 

 

we walked up to El Morro and back down again, stopping at the 2nd oldest Cathedral in the Americas, and the home of the tomb of city founder Ponce De Leon, The Cathedral of San Juan Baustista

 

 

 

We meandered back to the ship and got there maybe around 12:30'ish, about an hour before all aboard. Looks like most everyone else who got off also was coming back on board at that time as there was a hefty line.

 

 

[Hoopster95]

I am really enjoying your tour of Harmony. Hope I can fit her into our schedule soon. I also want to try a Radiance class ship. So many ships, so little time! :eek:

 

 

No doubt! Also put Anthem onto your list to perhaps try... Anthem is a morph of a RCL Radiance Class with a Celebrity S Class... plus a whole bunch of bells and whistles. I see your on Koningsdam coming up this year. She was in port with us in San Juan and I'll have her in a couple of pictures in an upcoming post when we sailaway!

 

 

Their parents, well, they just drank more beer....would have been a great day if we didn't have to deal with the 3 little human ping pong balls (boys) constantly trying to jump into the water while the boat was going full speed ahead. :eek: [/size]

 

Hmmmm .... That situation would've gone a whole other direction had I been on that boat with you :cool::D

Edited January 25, 2017 by Hoopster95

[Hoopster95]

Upon boarding we decided that this was our opportunity to use our free "Eat. Drink. Play." promo at Johnny Rockets for lunch. To get there, we would trace our steps from last night and come down the Abyss for the first time. This time of course leaving handbags etc in our room.

 

 

 

There was no one waiting at all to go down, Confused, I asked the attendant if it was open and he said yes. I asked him why no line and he said there never is. We were given just a quick blurb regarding grabbing the mat, how to hold it, and also that anything in your hand was not allowed... especially cameras. If you have a GoPro physically attached to yourself somehow that is fine.

 

 

 

You are waaaaay up high at this point! You can see straight down, but it's "mesh-like" translucent glass which you stand on at the top so the photo through and down into the Aqua Theatre isn't as clear as when you are there in person

 

 

 

In you "go", as per the sign above when the all clear is given

 

 

 

Camera in pocket and sunglasses between legs, we pushed off to see who would get down first. It's actually a fun ride... for maybe 10seconds max. You can't see anything, it's pretty much dark other than the few areas where there's light effects of some sort at the top.

 

It was over before I even realized I had hit a couple of the turns, and I slowed to a stop just shy of the bottom... had to pull/push myself out and away from the exit.

 

 

 

I looked back and up.... hmmmmm. Would I ever even want to take the time to head back to the elevator bank and out and around the sport's deck to do this again? Actions speak louder than words, right? Unlike my experiences with iFly, Northstar, Bumper Cars, Florider to name a few where I rebooked to do over and over again.... the Abyss falls in line with the 4 second zip-line: one and done. We had no desire whatsoever to bother trying it again, even though it was staring in our faces everyday from our balcony. This is a real fad in my humble opinion, and I bleieve the lack of any line-up whatsoever the several times of day I looked to see if people were coming down, and the couple of times up at sports deck, I think speaks volumes for others as well. I would hope RCL listens to the "actions" and perhaps scraps The Abyss on Symphony and future Oasis Class ships

[Hoopster95]

Johnny Rockets was packed and we got one of the last tables outside, I guess many of my fellow cruisers had the same plan coming back from San Juan to hit JRs.

 

 

 

 

 

On Quantum, JR was really poor in quality as well as the 2 for 1 milkshakes were served in a super small cup. Explorer was a bit better, but no entertainment from the staff and the atmosphere was really lacking all around with slow service. Here on Harmony, this was the great and fun setting and experience I had first had years ago with my first JR experience aboard RCL. Perhaps this was a factor of the place being packed, the food was hot and fresh, burgers were great, and the servers did there "Staying Alive" dance both inside and outside for patrons to enjoy

 

 

 

....and the milkshakes were big and served in proper large glasses

 

 

 

This was a really good lunch. I hav read in previous threads that some cruisers were denied the Eat Drink Play promo because of the fine print on the latter which says "book your free JR lunch on boarding day." The same wording is used for the Rock Climbing reservation (which we did not do). In this case when we sat down, I showed the waiter our letter and he said no problem... I was simply charged for the 2 for 1 milkshakes and that was it. Like Sabor the night before, this made for a nice and easy outdoor seated lunch in the fun atmosphere of the Boardwalk

 

[Hoopster95]

Back to our room we went to get changed and head up to pool deck for some sun. I wanted to check out sailaway first, so took a walk out to mid-deck to check things out around the ship. Soon were were pulling back out from Old San Juan

 

 

 

 

It does not take long to pull away and head out to sea, passing the famed El Morro fort. Note the sunshine in the previous picture when we were just pulling away, and now the storm clouds as we approached El Morro

 

 

 

Uhm, ya.... more bad weather. It didn't take long to change. Just as we passed El Morro at the tip, the skies opened and the rains came pouring down. I saw a lot of fellow cruisers run for cover, and I'm thinking that many might just bail the decks and head to the Solarium. So I took one last shot saying good-bye to San Juan and we hi-tailed it to the Solarium.

 

 

 

Before the rains started at sailaway ands like 2 days before, the pool deck was a disaster with no loungers available anywhere and strewn all over the place in different directions. We also noted the "people soup" again in the hot tubs... I just have never seen that many fellow cruisers wanting to jam themselves into the hot tubs like sardines side-by-side... what could be the attraction or comfort with that? The Solarium, while very busy, we were still able to secure a couple of loungers that were a mix of sun/shade. The rains had stopped after only about 10-15 minutes and the sun was peaking in and out of the clouds. I wanted as much full sun so I took a walk around for more photos and headed out onto both bridge wings

 

Note: the starboard bridge wing does not have the extended area with the see through glass looking down to the ocean, only the port side

 

 

 

 

I put my camera away for some time as I was interested in some peace and quiet. We were extremely fortunate in that a nice lady just two loungers over in one of the 1/2 circle two-person "cabana-like" padded loungers was leaving and asked us if we wanted it before opening it up to the masses... we grabbed it right away! They are one of the more popular pieces of furniture for cruisers to check first, and we noticed previously that these are "reserved" all day long by many. We chilled out there for a couple of hours

[MANDMTRAVEL]

We quickly popped into and walked around in the Solarium as well... not as impressive as the Quantum Solarium at night, but still pretty

 

 

 

 

It was time for dinner... we were getting hungry! Making our way down through to the Boardwalk on foot rather than via the Abyss, we got to Sabor to a half empty venue. Note that by day 4 I did not see any available openings in any non-MDR restaurant other than Sabor and Solarium Bistro evening dining, so definitely Sabor was not regarded as a must-do by most.

 

 

 

 

While not a totally awesome as my Navigator experience, we had a great meal. The food was fresh and delicious, the hand made guacamole table side was great, excellent margarita's... really great meal for the evening and super nice to be casual in shorts and outside. I can see why this isn't a hugely popular venue though... the bill with the margarita's was $60 so I suspect many would say "Why spend $60 for Mexican when I can have a free meal in the MDR?" Point taken, and I agree. It was nice to try and considered this dinner better quality than Jamie's, but I won;t have to try it again. I think RCL should include Sabor as an option in the "Eat, Drink, Play" promo and allow cruisers to use the benefit in Sabor to fill up that venue rather than Johnny Rockets.

 

 

 

Awesome review and pictures. Do you know if the Sabor Menu is the same for Lunch and for Dinner? Thanks,

[Hoopster95]

Awesome review and pictures. Do you know if the Sabor Menu is the same for Lunch and for Dinner? Thanks,

 

Thank you :)

Sorry, I don't know and never checked

I'm pretty sure if you do a search here on this forum you'll find the answer. Unless something has changed (or my memory sucks!:eek:), I remember reading that it is.