A ROYAL November: LIVE from Mariner/Liberty/Indy/Mariner OTS

[jam19872016]

I'm calling it early again. I guess I'm running out of steam after a couple weeks at sea.

 

Going to curl up with some tv until I pass out.

 

Tomorrow is a day at sea. Good night everyone.

[BND]

10 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

Today in Cozumel they were busy putting up the Christmas tree.

 

 

Mariner was tired of being the small ship docked next to oasis class in Cozumel so today we parked next to serenade to feel better about our size.

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival breeze was also in port with us. The sun was in my eyes and I didn't notice the picture didn't come out.

 

Only three ships in port today which I don't think I've ever seen in Cozumel.

 

 

They were putting up the framing for the tree when we were there on Jewel a couple of weeks ago.  Not moving very fast lol.

[jam19872016]

Good morning.

 

I'm doing taste of royal for lunch today for something different that I haven't done before. 

 

That's not until noon so I'm gonna get ready slowly and just kinda wonder around the ship for a little while.

[jam19872016]

2 hours ago, BND said:

They were putting up the framing for the tree when we were there on Jewel a couple of weeks ago.  Not moving very fast lol.

Dang I'll say! By the time it's up it will be time to take it down at that pace.

[SummerBeee]

14 hours ago, jam19872016 said:

I do mostly short cruises so I won't see this perk often. Next time I'm doing a week is Oasis end of February. And that's it although I am eyeing harmony in March.

I’m on Oasis all of February, would enjoy chatting with you at Cheers. 

[jam19872016]

44 minutes ago, SummerBeee said:

I’m on Oasis all of February, would enjoy chatting with you at Cheers. 

Sounds good 👍. 

[foodsvcmgr]

Hi Jam - could you elaborate a little further on the condition of Liberty?

Concerned how much the wear and tear impact the rest of the cruise experience.

Thanks for the outstanding reviews.

[jam19872016]

Man I don't know why but I'm tired again tonight. I legit think I could go to sleep right now. I hope I feel thus way tomorrow when I need to sleep early.

 

Powering through I'm near boleros listening to some music. The Starbucks across the way takes away all the seating but there is some seating behind Starbucks nobody has apparently noticed since their are a lot of standers.

 

It's terribly uncomfortable but it will do until Schooner comes alive at 815.

 

[jam19872016]

5 hours ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Hi Jam - could you elaborate a little further on the condition of Liberty?

Concerned how much the wear and tear impact the rest of the cruise experience.

Thanks for the outstanding reviews.

I don't think it will impact your experience. If none of the pictures bothered you, you will be fine. It just feels in need of some freshening up.

 

If you like watching the bog screen, that may impact you.

 

The elevator bank in the back has an elevator that was out of service the entire cruise. I think royals design of only two elevator banks is a big flaw already but this made using the back elevators an even bigger problem.

 

My tip is always book towards the front. Those elevators don't get used very often. Of course you have a walk to get almost anywhere you want to go so it is a trade off but I do better on the move than just standing around waiting and then shoving into a packed elevator.

 

Go and enjoy, it's a clean ship with some minor cosmetic opportunities.

[jam19872016]

I gave up on Boleros. The seats are quite possibly the most uncomfortable chairs ever invented.

 

Sitting in Schooner with a half hour of ambient noise but at least the seats are comfy.

[jam19872016]

I'm running behind posting some pics. Here are some from Jamie's dinner on the first night.

 

Arancini

 

 

Creamy burrata 

 

 

Prawn linguine.

 

 

Short ribs.

 

 

Funky fries.

 

 

I'll stick with the posh fries.

 

Lemon meringue cheesecake.

 

 

 

In and out in under an hour. Fantastic server I've had many times over two contracts on Mariner.

Edited November 30, 2022 by jam19872016

[jam19872016]

The next night was chops.

 

I started off with a chocolate martini.

 

 

Crab cake.

 

 

Grilled black pepper bacon.

 

 

 

[SummerBeee]

11 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

I'm running behind posting some pics. Here are some from Jamie's dinner on the first night.

 

Arancini

 

 

Creamy burrata 

 

 

Prawn linguine.

 

 

Short ribs.

 

 

Funky fries.

 

 

I'll stick with the posh fries.

 

Lemon meringue cheesecake.

 

 

 

In and out in under an hour. Fantastic server I've had many times over two contracts on Mariner.

Victoriano always wanted on us.

Back when we couldn’t touch the coffee machine in the DL he made mine everyday for 3 weeks. I was so happy to see him back on Mariner from Vacation 

[jam19872016]

I was really craving a steak tonight but i stuck to the seafood.

 

Salmon.

 

 

Creamed spinach and tator tots.

 

 

Apple pie. 

 

 

Still good! 

 

Key lime pie.

 

 

I was pretty full so I had more than enough food. But they have shrunk the size of the pie without shrinking down the meringue. The flavors are unbalanced at this point.

 

Service. They did their best. Even the manager was helping clear tables but they had trouble keeping up. Dinner took 90 minutes which is too much for me. I really enjoyed my dinner though.

 

[jam19872016]

1 minute ago, SummerBeee said:

Victoriano always wanted on us.

Back when we couldn’t touch the coffee machine in the DL he made mine everyday for 3 weeks. I was so happy to see him back on Mariner from Vacation 

I'm terrible with names. This is a short stocky guy mid 40s from Peru.

[foodsvcmgr]

Thanks Jam - fortunately my cabin is Deck 7 far forward.

Appreciate your input.

[jam19872016]

2 minutes ago, foodsvcmgr said:

Thanks Jam - fortunately my cabin is Deck 7 far forward.

Appreciate your input.

Great location 👌. 

 

Thanks for reading along.

[jam19872016]

I know I'm in the minority, but I really struggle with the dining options on royal compared to carnival. They are both mass market with very tight food budgets that mean quality is inconsistent at best.

 

But where carnival shines imho is variety. Food is subjective and we can argue amongst ourselves about whose quality is better, but when it comes to variety, there is a clear winner. Spoiler: it isn't royal.

 

After a couple weeks onboard I really wanted to do ultimate dining for my final leg. Black Friday pricing still had it at $37 a day. My limit for what I'm willing to pay is $30 and I really can't eat enough to make it worthwhile anymore anyway.

 

So i decided to go a la carte and just keep it under $150. Now that I skipped Izumi yesterday I'll hit that goal easily and I've had more than enough food. 

 

Today for my specialty selection I went with taste of royal something I've never tried since it was never included in my dining packages.

[jam19872016]

The menu.

 

 

 

 

St.peter's spritzer.

 

 

 

 

I did not expect to like that. Not a fan of most of the ingredients but that was surprisingly good.

 

The bread from Central Park 150.

 

 

One of my favorites but something was off about it today.

 

Some canapés because apparently we weren't about to receive a massive amount of food already 🤣

 

 

[jam19872016]

Tuna tartar from wonderland.

 

 

Good but chops version is better.

 

Marscapone cheese risotto with crabmeat from Giovanni's.

 

 

This was amazing and I will be on the lookout for this dish next time I'm at Giovanni's.

 

Filet mignon and spicy jumbo shrimp from chops.

 

 

Steak was slightly over cooked but I purposely order one temperature cooler than I like so it worked out. Steak was good not amazing, but very good. And the shrimp is my favorite chops entree so a perfect pairing.

 

Fried cheesecake from Central Park 150.

 

 

[jam19872016]

Overall this experience was very good. It cost $35 and you could pair each course with a half glass of wine for $20.

 

It was like a chef's table light. It is an experience and not a meal so understand there will be a time commitment to enjoy the entire culinary journey.

 

Great value for the money and a lot if food. I would do it again, but probably not too often without the menu changing up occasionally.

[jam19872016]

After that massive lunch I just had a smallish dinner at the Windjammer.

 

Tonight was Indian night and the jammer was a zoo tonight. People amd dirty dishes everywhere.

 

They were working hard to clear tables.

 

Let me apologize again for the sloppy plating 😆.

 

 

 

They ran out of salmon again and I was there within 45 minutes of them being opened. The replacement was not good but everything else I had was.

 

That warm hazelnut chocolate cake dessert was amazing! Need to look out for that again.

 

[jam19872016]

I'm going to make it at least to the quest at 1015 but I think that's gonna be it. I thought after a few drinks I'd feel like hanging out but so far that's not happening.

 

 

[jam19872016]

At Quest now. It's better attended this week I think it benefits from not being on the last night. That was odd last week.

 

[jam19872016]

Quest was a blast. Gonna wander a little see if I get a second wind but I think I'm done for the evening.