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

[jam19872016]

4 hours ago, OCSC Mike said:

 

Well, yeah, not as jealous now. Although I'd still rather be on a ship than home dealing with the storm and our house's water intrusion issues.

The weather has greatly improved. Sucks we missed coco cay but this is indeed much better than being back in Florida still. 

[jam19872016]

3 hours ago, tampadee said:

Did you pay in advance with Park Port Canaveral?  

Yes. You can also book a refundable rate for an extra $2 a day. Since they give everyone a code for a 10% discount it is really an extra $1.80 a day. 

[jam19872016]

Lunch was good today. Service was also top notch.

 

Mozzarella sticks.

 

 

Pulled pork sandwich.

 

 

That sandwich is hit or miss across ships. It was very good today.

 

Coconut cake for dessert..

 

 

[jam19872016]

Heading up to the gym now for what was supposed to be my morning workout.

[jam19872016]

Off to dinner. Tonight I will be dining at Jamie's Italian.

[jam19872016]

Dinner tonight earned an A+ from me. I seriously ate way too much and the drinks are hitting me a little hard 🙃. 

 

I'll post a full review in a bit but I have to get some air or I will likely pass out at 7pm from a food induced coma 🤪

[OCSC Mike]

3 minutes ago, jam19872016 said:

I seriously ate way too much

That’s not a thing while cruising.

[jam19872016]

1 hour ago, OCSC Mike said:

That’s not a thing while cruising.

You make a good point 🤔. 

[jam19872016]

Before I post dinner, I've got some photos to post from yesterday when the interney was not cooperating.

 

These first ones are from sailaway. 

 

Carnival Freedom has already set sail but Disney Wish was still in port. Sorry it's cut off the sun was in my eyes.

 

 

 

 

Looking down the channel.

 

 

A recovered SpaceX Falcon 9.

 

 

Independence which I'll be on soon.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

On my way to chops the sun was setting.

 

 

Behind me the pool had been turned into a thrill ride. It would be closed when I left chops.

 

Starting my meal off with some bubbly.

 

 

For appetizers I got the crab cake and the black pepper bacon.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

The crab cake was everything you want from a good crab cake. Lots of delicious crab and not a lot of filling. The bacon was good also but just slightly over cooked.

 

Because I've never really enjoyed the steak here, I ordered the branzino with a side of the cheese tater tots and macaroni and cheese.

 

 

 

The fish and sides were excellent.

 

For dessert I finished things off with the key lime pie.

 

 

This is one of my favorite desserts and it was very good but I'm disappointed in the smaller portion size. It was 2/3 meringue.

[jam19872016]

I was a little unsure of doing chops but I am glad I went. The food was nearly flawless.

 

The key to success I've found, is staying away from the steak which is odd for a steakhouse. It's just never been very good IMHO. The problem then is getting your money's worth.

 

The ambiance was mostly great, it's usually too noisy. There was one screaming child who had intermittent tantrums but they passed quickly and the staff did good seating them in the back corner.

 

And finally service. I've always found the service at chops to not be up to par with other specialty restaurants. Not always bad, but certainly not as good.

 

Overall service tonight was a solid B+. Towards the end of the meal as they were getting busy, things slowed down drastically. Total meal time was 90 minutes, which for a solo dinner is a little too long but not excessive I guess. It was mostly only noticeable because the pace was decent until dessert.

 

Overall I was very happy with my choice to dine here and will do it again on the next leg of Mariner and possibly independence.

[jam19872016]

Almost gave up on posting Jamie's. Uploading going slow again but I did get it uploaded at last.

 

Chocolate martini....I may have had three.

 

 

Arancini and a starter portion of the carbonara.

 

 

 

The arancini was good and the pasta was so so amazing. Yum 😋. 

[jam19872016]

Next I had the short ribs woth a side of posh fries.

 

 

 

The short ribs were very good, but they just couldn't quite be what I wanted them to be. I wanted them to be an 11/10 and it just didn't deliver. It was still very good and I have no complaints.

 

For dessert I ordered two because I'm being a big fat cow tonight 😄. 

 

Lemon meringue cheesecake and vanilla ice cream with honey comb.

 

 

 

[jam19872016]

I feel like the cheesecake was smaller too, but honestly I did not need any more to eat after all this anyway. The ice cream was simple but a nice treat to finish the amazing meal off with.

 

I've never had a disappointing meal at Jamie's and that continues tonight.

 

Meal time was just over an hour.

[jam19872016]

Off to the casino for a little bit.

[molsonschooner]

1 hour ago, jam19872016 said:

I was a little unsure of doing chops but I am glad I went. The food was nearly flawless.

 

The key to success I've found, is staying away from the steak which is odd for a steakhouse. It's just never been very good IMHO. The problem then is getting your money's worth.

 

The ambiance was mostly great, it's usually too noisy. There was one screaming child who had intermittent tantrums but they passed quickly and the staff did good seating them in the back corner.

 

And finally service. I've always found the service at chops to not be up to par with other specialty restaurants. Not always bad, but certainly not as good.

 

Overall service tonight was a solid B+. Towards the end of the meal as they were getting busy, things slowed down drastically. Total meal time was 90 minutes, which for a solo dinner is a little too long but not excessive I guess. It was mostly only noticeable because the pace was decent until dessert.

 

Overall I was very happy with my choice to dine here and will do it again on the next leg of Mariner and possibly independence.

we went to Chops while on Liberty back in September. 3 of us ordered steak and it was great. I ordered chicken , it was horrible. 

[perfect match]

Thanks for doing this review. I’m looking forward to following along the rest of the way with you. 🛳  Hope Tropical Storm - soon to be hurricane 🌀 Nicole is nice to us here on the home front the next couple of days so our power and internet stay on. 

[jam19872016]

There is signage in my room that I will need to request it if I would like a paper copy of the compass. Despite that, my steward has been delivering it which does make it easier for me to post the evening entertainment without switching  tabs.

 

Here was this evening's lineup, none of which I participated in lol 😆. 

 

Pub trivia at 6 and 7:30

Jurassic world, poolside at 6 and 9

Name that tune 70s hits, Schooner Bar 7:15

Production show: Center State, Royal Theater at 8 and 10:15.

60 second or less game show, star lounge 8:30

70s disco inferno party, Royale Promenade 930

Adult karaoke, star lounge 10.

 

Live music with Red Label Band, Boleros 4:45-8:30

Piano and vocal entertainment with Jesse Velez 8:45-12:45

Latin dance music with Macondo Trio, Boleros 8:45-12:30

DJ Marcelo, Nightclub 10:30-Late.

[jam19872016]

2 hours ago, molsonschooner said:

we went to Chops while on Liberty back in September. 3 of us ordered steak and it was great. I ordered chicken , it was horrible. 

I will be sure to stay away from the chicken as well 😆. I've had the branzino, shrimp, and salmon and enjoyed them all. I'm a bug fan of seafood.

1 hour ago, perfect match said:

Thanks for doing this review. I’m looking forward to following along the rest of the way with you. 🛳  Hope Tropical Storm - soon to be hurricane 🌀 Nicole is nice to us here on the home front the next couple of days so our power and internet stay on. 

Hope everything stays OK back home. 🙏 Thankful to be far away from the storm.

 

Thanks for following along.

[jam19872016]

Going to bed now. Top tier party is at 10am tomorrow.. I have not made it to one of those things yet. I was going to try this time since I had been becoming more of a morning person but it's looking doubtful since I'm just now making it to the room for the night.

 

We shall see. Good night all and stay safe Florida.

[jam19872016]

Good morning.

 

Slept through the top tier party. Maybe next time.

 

Gonna get up and wander around a bit to kill some time for lunch to open.

[jam19872016]

Lunch was good overall this morning.

 

I started with the heirloom tomato salad.

 

 

Third day in, first miss of the cruise. This wasn't good today. The couple next to me were so excited to order it after seeing it being made at the behind the scenes tour earlier. You could hear the disappointment in their voice at how bad this was.

 

Seafood sandwich.

 

 

Very good 👍. 

 

For dessert I had the white chocolate mousse.

 

 

This was OK. Not bad but not something I would try again.

 

Overall an enjoyable lunch.

[jam19872016]

Off now for some gym time then to the cabin to get some work done this afternoon.

[jam19872016]

Work done now time for some dinner. I'm going to peek in the Windjammer before i decide if I want to do the MDR or not tonight.