CntPAcruiser

The thermal suites on Oasis and Allure are completely interior, no windows to the outside, located within the spa on deck 5. There are small men's and women's locker rooms. Not sure how close the women's is to the actual thermal suite--the men's is down a hallway. The thermal suite itself has a small steam room, a small sauna, and an aromatherapy room, which is basically another steam room they squirt some scent into occasionally. There are also heated ceramic loungers and specialty showers (with rainfall, storm, mist effects, etc.) in the thermal suite. There's a relaxation room located near the thermal suite. I've read comments from others drawing comparisons with thermal suites on other cruise lines, and apparently Royal's falls below the mark. But for those of us who really like to sauna and steam every day, it's still worth it if that's the only option.

On our galley tour last fall on Vision, they were most definitely making all the breads, but with limited ingredients and equipment. The divider/rounder machine had failed, so they were having to cut and shape dinner rolls by hand. We saw batches of dough fermenting in the bakery, and had a nice talk from the bread baker.

We saw that, too. The house always wins--in this instance by having a gap on the sides of the tray where the coins that fall through go into the collection box, not the winners' tray. Boo!! We still had lots of fun watching those who were very serious about playing and also very unseriously attempting it ourselves with a few quarters (including a few rescued ones).

At one point during our cruise, it got a bit rough and they shut down the quarter pusher machines for that reason. But I do think the motion of the ship can help a little even under normal seas.

The succinct nature of your post was amusing.

Still a better return than most casino games!

Good for you!

LOL!

Hey, all. On our last cruise we were a tad bored at one point and wandered over toward the casino, which we usually avoid because of the smoke. Right at the entrance, and perhaps farthest from the smoking, were the coin pusher machines. I had always thought they were a complete scam, but we stood with someone who was a long-term player and watched as they dropped quarter after quarter and occasionally got rewarded with a few coins dropping. After a fairly long and patient wait, a ten-dollar bill eventually dropped into the collection slot. It was interesting to watch and chat with the player, who was very friendly and patient. We were even convinced to find a few quarters of our own and try to get a little bit of a return. This is obviously a long-term game, but the players we talked with generally came out ahead over time, albeit without a huge profit, but it was fun. Is anyone else out there interested in these games? Any tips or strategies? We are planning to bring a bag of quarters along for our next cruise. We had one day of fairly high seas, and I wondered if the extra rolling and pitching helped the player get a few extra coins.

You should be able to bring a sealed container back on board.

Don't feel bad--I don't think anyone else gets my humor either! Really enjoyed your review, as I have the others before them. Thanks for doing them!

I knew it wasn't fish--it was wordplay. Sole the fish versus the fact that it looked like the sole of a shoe! Or a flip-flop, maybe. That was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the picture. Oddly enough, I would probably still have eaten it. I like eggplant.

Looks like a delicious dinner of grilled flip-flop with fried seaweed! Probably not what you were expecting when you ordered filet of sole.

Much easier to ask your cabin attendant for whatever luggage tags you want--they are the ones who distribute them, and they don't care who gets off the ship when. Bizarre that you were told you could get off whenever at Guest Services, considering they make announcements all morning long on departure day to NOT do exactly that.

The original recipe was from Swiss physician Bircher-Benner, a raw foods pioneer, ca. 1900: 1 tablespoon rolled oats 2 tablespoons water 1 tablespoon sweetened condensed milk 2 teaspoons lemon juice 1 large apple, unpeeled and grated 6 raw hazelnuts, or almonds, chopped Soak the oats in water overnight, blend in the remaining ingredients and serve. Makes one small serving. Nowadays most substitute some other form of dairy for the sweetened condensed milk and add other sweetener, like honey, if desired. Additional fruits/berries may be added on top.