Tricia’s Travelogue

We awoke to more rain and wind, but Charlie braved Central Park for our morning coffee.  He’s my hero! The rain comes and goes, but high winds continue (8 on the Beaufort scale), keeping most people indoors.  At lunch, I spotted one guy in the pool, wearing a hoodie with the hood up.  Now, that’s hard core! Last night’s dinner was back at Izumi, which continues to be packed.  Service was much better this time. Charlie and I both had the pork dumplings, as well as the shrimp tempura.  Then I finished with the Crispy Philly Roll (avocado, salmon, and cream cheese), while he had beef teriyaki.  After dinner I read while Charlie went to the casino.  He has earned 2000 points on this cruise so far! We dutifully took our morning walk on decks 4 and 5, which were mostly deserted.  We did encounter lots of people heading to Catholic mass in the theatre.   Sorry, but there was no craft group drama today, even though yesterday’s perpetrators were all t...

Today is foggy and rainy in the Atlantic.  At lunch today in Coastal Kitchen we saw a lone man in the hot tub on the deck below.  I’m sure the Solarium (which we have yet to see) is jammed. Yesterday we managed to find seats in the suites lounge for Happy Hour, and we enjoyed talking to a Pinnacle couple from Tampa. They’ve cruised everywhere! She’s originally from Taiwan, and they’ve cruised in Asia quite a bit. For dinner we returned to 150 Central Park and once again were seated in the throne chairs. They’re comfy, but very low, so we could have almost scraped food directly into our mouths! We both had excellent Caesar salads, and then we ordered the tenderloin for two.  It was delicious! You can see how little of the delicious bread we left.  We skipped dessert this time. This morning we slept later, due to yesterday’s time change, so I skipped walking in order to get to the crafting group on time. Alas, today there were two BIG talkers who annoyed me so much tha...

First up, we’re just back from the Top Tier event, which was limited to Diamond Plus and Pinnacle members, due to the sheer numbers. (Mere Diamonds and below will go tomorrow.). The lower floor of the theater was full—and we were too late for the champagne!  They recognized quite a few new Pinnacles and those who had doubled, tripled, or quadrupled the Pinnacle requirement. There were three who’ve been sailing for over 50 years, including one very spry man who must have started cruising in childhood. Maybe that will be Sydney one day!  Here are the numbers on board: Note the number of Pinnacles, which explains the crowds in the suites lounge. We hear that the Diamond lounge is also mobbed, but we haven’t been there.  Here are a few pics Charlie took as we left Nassau yesterday : Other ships in port with us A last view of the Royal beach club The famous lighthouse  Before dinner last night we went to Dazzles to listen to big band music. The musicians were terrific! We...

This morning we arrived in the Bahamas in pouring rain and 23 mph winds. Not a great day for a beach club!  We saw some people with kids preparing to leave the ship, but I suspect many others decided to stay on board. We have to be back on board at 3:30, so it’s a short port stay, too.  It’s still so windy (mid morning) that the beach umbrellas are still furled. Here are some photos from this morning: There are four other ships here today, but ours is the only Royal Caribbean ship, so the beach club won’t be crowded.   Yesterday we got drinks in Dazzles and listened to an excellent pianist for a while before dinner. In the suites lounge before dinner we met two younger German men who were wearing evening wear complete with medals and brocade vests. They were delightful!  We had a nice two-top in Coastal Kitchen. We both had Caesar salads to start, then Charlie had beef short-ribs with gnocchi and pearl onions. I had veal cannelloni. Everything was delicious!  We...

 Last night we had dinner at Izumi.  On this ship, the Izumi hibachi is separated from Izumi sushi, which we greatly appreciated.  Hibachi is fun, but so LOUD. Service was very slow, as they seemed short-staffed, but we eventually got our sake and She’s a Geisha cocktail. I started with the pork dumplings and Charlie had the shrimp and veggie tempura, both of which you’ve seen before, but reliably good.  I chose a spider roll with crab, avocado, cucumber, and asparagus, then a truffled creamy lobster tempura roll next  both were really tasty!  Charlie also had two rolls, one with salmon and one with crab. We skipped dessert. We are both sleeping really well so far! Our cabin is very quiet, as there are no cabins across the hall, and the bed is comfy.  This morning our ship was entering the area between Cuba and Florida.  I returned to the crafting group and a few newbies joined us.  We had about 20 there today.  Here I am with Kim-from-A...

Yesterday we tried the suites lounge again about 4:30, and it was jam-packed, with no seating. We got drinks from the bar and returned to our cabin. The ship clearly isn’t able to accommodate so many Pinnacles along with us suite people!  We had an excellent dinner at 150 Central Park, definitely the best meal on a ship in a while. We tried their signature cocktail, the Urban Garden, involving vodka, lemon grass, basil, and cucumber, and it was very refreshing.  Note that we got the “throne” chairs!  (They often feature in Royal Caribbean YouTube vlogs.) For appetizers, I had a great beet salad with balls of goat cheese rolled in herbs, crispy prosciutto, and candied walnuts. Charlie chose the crispy pork belly. Beet salad  Crispy pork belly My main dish was pan-seared halibut with warm potato salad and truffle hollandaise. Charlie opted for the lobster Thermidor. Lobster Thermidor  Halibut And for dessert, we both had to get the famous fried cheesecake, which i...