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As others have said, Royal isn't necessarily the best option for Alaska. We did Royal this year for reasons related to the ship, and it was nice, but I was reminded how much I like Princess and Celebrity for Alaska itineraries.

Agreed. Yes, things could easily escalate beyond the current region of conflict, but there's no reason to think that Italy would be in the line of fire anytime soon. That would require a EU/UN level of involvement, which doesn't appear to be on the immediate horizon. Of course, the unexpected does happen, but I wouldn't say that your risk of flying to Rome is any higher than your risk of flying to Los Angeles. Go, and enjoy! 🙂

Rude to the staff, yes, but also not super considerate to people who are waiting to be seated. It's kinda hard to enjoy your nachos and campfire cookies standing up. 😉

I enjoy stops at Coco Cay (and Labadee for that matter) because I really enjoy beach time ... for about 20 minutes. 😉 I would never consider a "beach break" excursion at any other port, since it means paying a substantial sum to be stuck somewhere I don't really want to be after the first half hour. Private islands, however, are entirely within my control. I tend to spend more time on Coco Cay simply because the food is substantially better (IMHO) than on Labadee, so I don't feel like I need to return to the ship just to eat. But either way, I love to wade in knee-deep for a few minutes, then relax on a lounger until I'm dry, then I'm ready to move on to something else. So for me, the private islands do a perfect job of scratching that beach time itch.

Nice! I absolutely love their videos, largely because Brian is like a younger version of DH and Kerry is a younger me. 😄 I've contemplated getting this, I'm just afraid it would sway my booking decisions. Not the best schedule, itinerary or price? Who cares, I can cross off another ship! 🤭

Beautiful! And good call sharing it here, where there are lots of people who understand the excitement. 😊

Yes, there are still hard tickets delivered to your cabin.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! I'm glad you and your family enjoyed yourselves. 🙂

So glad to hear that you (and particularly your brother!) had such a great experience. It's nice to hear from people who enjoyed themselves. 🙂

If I were traveling with a small child, I would probably not go the UDP route. There are lots of options on the Odyssey that would be quicker and easier, and I have a suspicion that you would gravitate towards those and not get your money's worth. Maybe book a specialty dinner or two for just the adults, while the little one is at Adventure Ocean?

Yep, that's them! The lineup has changed a bit since the pre-COVID days, but the lead singer is still the same. Best show we saw on that cruise!

OH MY GOODNESS YES, this is a job for a TA!! You specifically mentioned online TAs, which I don't think is inherently a bad idea, but I would steer clear of the "big box" companies. You want personalized service for something like that. Most cities of reasonable size still have brick-and-mortar travel agencies, or you could find someone online who is self-employed--something along those lines. If I were involved in planning something like this, I would definitely want a TA on my side who is readily available and responsive.

Another vote for 150. Personally speaking, it's not even a close call. And congratulations! 🙂

Good news, Ovation had a Journey cover band a couple of weeks ago! They were quite good, too. Brought back memories of seeing the real thing for my 14th birthday. 😄

Ovation two weeks ago was QR code located outside Guest Services or paper copy upon request.

Thank you, I'm so glad you found it helpful! 🙂 And I totally agree, desserts have never been their strong suit, which is why I was even MORE sad to see the authentic pot de crème disappear. 😞 But I have bad news: that's not ice cream on the brownie, it's the awful whipped topping stuff, so I had to scrape it off. For what it's worth, there was a different pound cake each day in the Windjammer / Solarium Bistro / Promenade Cafe, and they were really good!

I had to look it up. Ummm ... yeah ... 😲

Lastly, some general observations on the most common complaints I've seen about recent changes. To be clear, this is not intended as a "fact check" or to challenge anyone else's impressions--just to compare how they align with my own experiences. Overall decrease in MDR food quality This was not our experience, with the notable and heartbreaking exception of the dark chocolate custard which has gone from French pot de crème to boxed chocolate pudding. 😭Yes, I am still bitter about that! MDR food not served hot Two of our dishes (one entree, one appetizer) were served more warm than hot. That's still pretty good odds for two people over five nights, but yes, it did happen. Smaller portions in MDR Mostly for the sides, but yes, this was often the case. Personally, I kind of liked it, since I wasted less food this way. With a three-course meal plus bread, I sometimes struggle to eat everything I'm served. Especially if I want to save room for the late-night snack or mocktail! 😉 Inability to order multiple dishes in MDR I only did it with dessert, but nobody even batted an eye. Some people reported being told that they would have to be served one at a time--that wasn't the case for me, but it could vary by ship or they might have discontinued that particular policy. Reduced level of service in MDR We only experienced this on the two nights when our assistant waiter was sick--but even then, it was minimal. To be fair, we don't order multiple drinks with dinner, so that might be a factor. We always got our Sprite Zero within a few minutes of being seated (and without having to ask after the first two nights), and water stayed refilled. We did notice that servers were moving around the room VERY quickly and with laser-like focus, which would suggest an increased workload, but it didn't negatively impact us. When interacting with us, we never felt that they were impatient or trying to rush us. Fewer options in Windjammer We did notice the ever-present hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken strips that have been reported on other ships. Since Quantum-class ships have such large Windjammers, that still left plenty of room for other options, and they were plentiful & tasty. There were always two made-to-order stations as well--I noticed omelettes, stir fry and pasta on offer. I can see how a smaller Windjammer might leave less room for a variety of offerings, but for us, it wasn't an issue. And for the record, the chicken strips were surprisingly good! It seems like there was something else I wanted to address, but it has slipped my mind. Feel free to ask any questions. 🙂

Agreed, it's not the most aesthetic plating. 🤣 To be honest, though, I don't really mind. When I think about all the food waste that happens on these ships, I kind of like the idea that a higher percentage of the veggies will actually be eaten. 🙂

Woot woot, it's Bon Voyage time! 😃 We both had the seafood cake. Strangely, I'm almost certain that in the past, we thought the crab cake was good but the seafood cake was better. I don't recall why, though. At any rate ... this time around, we enjoyed the seafood cake but not as much as the crab cake! DH had the pecan-crusted salmon, which was good, but the "warm potatoes in a light horseradish scallion crema" were the highlight of the dish. I could have eaten a whole plate of just that! Not that I was complaining about my entree, though. I was a bit skeptical about ordering the turkey dinner, since I was afraid the turkey would be either dry and flavorless or taste like deli meat. Somewhat to my surprise, it was delicious! In fact, other than the fact that I'm not accustomed to having bits of bell pepper in my Thanksgiving corn, the whole dish was like a good quality Thanksgiving dinner. For dessert, DH got the warm apple crumble. It was tasty, with a good apple/crumble ratio, and the ice cream added a perfect touch. I had two desserts: first, the crema catalana. This is similar to a crème brûlée, but typically seasoned with citrus rather than vanilla and lightly spiced. I'm almost sure that in the Solarium Bistro, the crema catalana does have that citrus/cinnamon flavor profile, but this one did not. That's okay, I quite enjoy crème brûlée as well. 🙂 The second was the dark chocolate brownie, which is essentially the poor man's version of the brownie at Jamie's. 😉 Unfortunately, the toppings being drizzled over the whipped topping meant that I had to scrape them off as well, and I only got to enjoy the single piece of caramel popcorn and a standard brownie. 😐 And that's a wrap, folks! 🙂 We didn't eat in the MDR for France or Italy night (on purpose, since I'm a bit spoiled by years of eating the real thing), so I have no input there. I will add some general observations in a wrap-up post tomorrow.

For those boarding the Ovation tomorrow: I will do my very best to get menus 4 and 5 done tonight! 🙂 Here is Royal Night. I had an old favorite for my appetizer: the Vidalia onion tart. It's essentially a slice of quiche, and a very tasty one! DH had the Caesar salad, which was ... well, a Caesar salad. 😉 He had the lobster for his entree, and said that he didn't notice any changes for the better or the worse. He was however disappointed that the baked potato has been replaced with rice. I was even more disappointed, because my chicken marsala was the only dish that I honestly couldn't finish eating due to its salt content. I had a couple of bites, but that was all I could manage. On the other hand, the asparagus and mashed potatoes were excellent! DH's baked Alaska was very good, especially since it was heavy on strawberry ice cream which is clearly the best flavor! 😄 The warm chocolate cake itself was excellent. The sauce was a bit underwhelming since it was basically just Hershey's syrup. But the cake eaten with just the ice cream was delish. And, hopefully within the next couple of hours, we will have Bon Voyage!

It seems that all of the mass market lines are multiplying their upcharges these days, so you might have to try a luxury line. Happy sails wherever you land. 🙂

A Taste of the UK DH got the baby shrimp cocktail salad, and while we were both surprised to see that it was basically just shrimp with sauce on the side, it was nice to be able to decide on proportions yourself. And the sauce was yummy. I wanted to try the leek & potato soup, but I was a bit hesitant because potato soups tend to run on the salty side anyway, even when you're not on a cruise. 😉 I decided to risk it, and I'm glad I did because it wasn't over-salted at all. Delish! DH went for the Indian dish, since tikka masala is a favorite of his. It was a bit spicy for my taste, but he thought it was perfect. I got the chicken & mushroom pie, which was delicious. I personally prefer the pastry-t0-filling ratio of a full pie, rather than just a crust "lid" like this, but both the pastry and the filling were excellent. You can't get more UK than a sticky toffee pudding for dessert. 😊 It was pretty good, albeit slightly dry, but the sauce was excellent. And, bonus, this time the nasty whipped topping was on the side! I also tried the chocolate mousse, mostly out of curiosity since I saw how they butchered the chocolate custard. 😞 The mousse was definitely less of a tragedy, but just okay. The bites with the strawberry pieces and the mint leaves were very good. 🙂 In the next installment: Royal Night.

A Taste of Asia was probably my favorite night overall, which is a bummer since it doesn't seem to appear on most 7-night itineraries. Oh well, I'll enjoy it when I can! My appetizer was the vegan spring rolls, which I thoroughly enjoyed. DH got the chicken & cabbage dumpling, which was even better! I got the winning entree, however: shrimp pad thai. 😋Probably my favorite MDR dish of the cruise, and not far behind my favorite specialty restaurant dishes. DH got the sweet & sour pork, which was also pretty good. But it was no shrimp pad thai. 😉 For dessert, I decided to go with a familiar staple and get the Royal chocolate cake. Still a solid chocolate cake, but nothing to blow your socks off. DH was feeling a bit more adventurous and got the lychee tart since he had never tried lychee before (if you haven't either, it's kind of pear-like in flavor with a slightly floral hint to it). The tart was good, but a bit hard to eat since the crust was more sturdy than flaky. Up next: a Taste of the UK!

While we all know that food is extremely subjective, and dishes can vary quite a lot from ship to ship (and sometimes even from cruise to cruise), there seem to be a lot of questions and not a lot of specifics when it comes to the new MDR menus. So I thought I would chip in the little bit that I can. 🙂 We ate in the main dining room five times, with the following menus: Welcome Aboard, A Taste of Asia, A Taste of the UK, Royal Night, and Bon Voyage. I'll do each night in a separate post, starting with the Welcome Aboard menu. For appetizers, we both had the crab cake. Two thumbs up! The Old Bay sauce and the tomato-cucumber salad were both heavenly, and the crab cake itself was pretty tasty too. Yes, they are made with imitation crab, but that doesn't bother me in the least. I ate every bite and wished I had ordered two! My entree was the spaghetti bolognese. Full disclosure, Italy is one of the places I've lived overseas, and I'm a bit hard to please when it comes to Italian cuisine. The noodles were al dente, which is an absolute must for me, but the sauce was disappointing. Too salty, and seasoned with chili pepper flakes--not that that's bad, just not authentic bolognese. I've been pleasantly surprised with their bolognese before, but it was on a different ship and before the new menus. This one was a miss for me. DH got the New York strip steak. I didn't want him approaching his entree with any preconceived notions, so I didn't tell him anything about the awful things I had read about the beef dishes. I asked him what he thought, and when he said it was pretty good, I asked, "So, on par with Outback Steakhouse?" He replied, "I'd say a bit better." 😲 I asked for a bite to confirm, and guess what? Yep! It was really quite good! To be fair, he later came across a couple of gristly bites, but it was tasty and mostly tender and a thoroughly pleasant surprise. Certainly not the best steak we'd ever had, but miles away from the inedible shoe leather I had read about. He did say that it was closer to warm than hot, and the veggies were pretty bland, but overall, an enjoyable entree. His dessert was the key lime pie. The custard and crust were quite good. The only downside was that nasty "whipped topping" that Royal puts on everything. Blech! It's okay, though--we just scrape it off and enjoy what's left. My dessert, on the other hand, made me want to cry. 😞 The dark chocolate custard used to be what is referred to as "pot de crème" in some of my other overseas homes (French-speaking Europe). I looked forward to it with great anticipation on every cruise. Now, it's basically Jell-o chocolate pudding. 😥 So, unless that's what you want ... I would give this one a pass. In the next installment: A Taste of Asia. 🙂