On Royal now...After Vowing to NEVER sail Royal Again...

[ceilidh1]

11 minutes ago, milolii said:

Glad u are enjoying the trip.  What day is the pub lunch? Northbound portion.  Ty 

Northbound pub lunch was on Friday - last sea day,  it wasn’t advertised in the Patter and we only found out about it when we saw the British flags outside Crown Grill! First time I haven’t had to line up or wait for a table for the pub lunch so thinking a lot of folks didn’t know about it! It was pretty empty at noon when we ate! We all had fish and chips and it was very good!

[milolii]

Awesome ty 

[milolii]

 Did they have Scotch eggs? 

[jangor]

After 13 cruises (11 on Princess), I truly believe that a cruise is what you make it.  Yes, occasionally you run into tired staff (remember they are human with ups and downs) or the schedule doesn't work out as you had hoped or there are technical glitches, but I have had that happen on land as well (Don't get me started on my Sirius/XM issues or Frontier  (lack of) Communications)  Smile, move on, remember that not everyone can afford to be on a cruise ship.  Not that that is an excuse for poor service, but it does put things into perspective.  As my husband often says, "Nobody died".

[Vic The Parrot]

Following along, and great to hear everything is top-notch.  

 

Was wondering for a favor, tho, when you have time. Can you check out the sound level at the Retreat pool area when MUTS is blasting at it's usual ear drum popping volume?  

 

(I'm thinking since there's a deckhouse on 17 that might be a sound buffer, the noise level might be tolerable. Thanks in advance for being a lab mouse!😂).  

[ceilidh1]

12 minutes ago, milolii said:

 Did they have Scotch eggs? 

No scotch eggs....

 

Fish and chips

Ploughmans Lunch/salad

Steak and Kidney Pie

Bangers and Mash

 

Bread and Butter Pudding

[ceilidh1]

Just now, Vic The Parrot said:

Following along, and great to hear everything is top-notch.  

 

Was wondering for a favor, tho, when you have time. Can you check out the sound level at the Retreat pool area when MUTS is blasting at it's usual ear drum popping volume?  

 

(I'm thinking since there's a deckhouse on 17 that might be a sound buffer, the noise level might be tolerable. Thanks in advance for being a lab mouse!😂).  

We were there last week and the sound level is not intrusive at all! In fact, the volume from MUTS is actually not that loud (I know what you mean as it usually is   blaring). Maybe there are noise restrictions in Alaska or maybe it’s because there are less folks out on deck on these colder cruises (though this has been far from cold!) For us, the retreat pool area was very quiet and relaxing. I will take a walk down there later and check it out again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke!

[Knickearth]

15 hours ago, 4cats4me said:

Really glad to hear this. We were onboard on April 6, the third West Coast Cruise, and didn’t experience any issues.  However, we did hear of others having issues.  So glad that everything is back on track!  I remember very well the issues you had with them not honoring your kids’ drink packages.  We will have Matt O in October. He really is the best!  Thanks for checking in.  

Hey there Cats - where ya going in October?   We have nothing planned until December, but  I would love to sneak in a cruise from the west coast sooner

[Vic The Parrot]

21 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

We were there last week and the sound level is not intrusive at all! In fact, the volume from MUTS is actually not that loud (I know what you mean as it usually is   blaring). Maybe there are noise restrictions in Alaska or maybe it’s because there are less folks out on deck on these colder cruises (though this has been far from cold!) For us, the retreat pool area was very quiet and relaxing. I will take a walk down there later and check it out again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke!

Thanks luv, you're da bomb!  😚

[Vic The Parrot]

Yum, bangers and mash! 

Think I'll make that for dinner tonight.  🤗

[1emerald1]

Can you ask Maitre'd Generoso Mazzone what ship he will be on after this contract?  Thank you.

[Cruise Raider]

19 hours ago, ceilidh1 said:

This was exactly how I felt in March - like it was staffed at Grand Class Levels! I was actually told in the MDR that it would be quicker to just go to the bar and get my own drink!!!! This time it seems there are more than enough staff and the service is fantastic!

 

You just can't imagine how happy I am to hear this since I have two more sailings booked on her for next year.  There were some awesome staff members but, just not enough of them.  To be fair, we were on the very first sailing that the Medallion went live .... but it still just seemed like they were terribly understaffed.  Now, I have no worries about those future bookings. 

[andrek]

Thanks Ceilidh1. I am not sure if I have been on with Matt O before. We were on the Regal in 2015 and though the CD was amazing! I am excited that he will be on for our November cruise.

Andrea

[ceilidh1]

Still searching for smoothies! So far, none to be found! Nothing on menus and bartender at Outriggers said only mocktails! I’m going to ask at the dining room tonight!

[MsSoCalCruiser]

57 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Still searching for smoothies! So far, none to be found! Nothing on menus and bartender at Outriggers said only mocktails! I’m going to ask at the dining room tonight!

Thank you!  Maybe you can show them this....

 

 

[ceilidh1]

12 minutes ago, MsSoCalCruiser said:

Thank you!  Maybe you can show them this....

 

 

Smoothies can be ordered in MDR. Not on menu but they will make them with any ingredients they have so they are made to order. They can he made with or without yogurt so dairy free if requested. The waiter said they usually make them with fresh fruit and yogurt or ice cream but also substitute the yogurt/ice cream for fruit juice. 

[MsSoCalCruiser]

19 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Smoothies can be ordered in MDR. Not on menu but they will make them with any ingredients they have so they are made to order. They can he made with or without yogurt so dairy free if requested. The waiter said they usually make them with fresh fruit and yogurt or ice cream but also substitute the yogurt/ice cream for fruit juice. 

That sounds wonderful.  I will have to give that a try.  Please let us know if you try one.  Thank you for asking!

[Tempo]

On 8/11/2019 at 4:43 PM, ceilidh1 said:

Currently half way through our 2 week b2b Alaska cruise. As the title says, I had never expected to sail this ship again after having a less than stellar experience in March sailing to Mexico. On that sailing, the first on the west coast, the service was the worst I had ever had on any cruise and we had so many small issues that combined together to make one problem ridden cruise! What made that cruise for us (and the only positive) was cruise director Matt O and his team! They knocked it out of the water!!!! When I heard that he and Andrew The Canadian we’re back doing Alaska I decided to give Royal another chance!

 

i plan on posting a full review once back but thought I would see if anyone had any questions I might be able to answer from the ship! What I can say at this point is that a week in, everything has been PERFECT! Matt O is as awesome as ever and his team are outstanding! My only complaint, if I had to find one, is that there is just so much going on that we can’t do it all!

 

Weather in Alaska has been spectacular. I haven’t put a jacket on in 7 days! This is my 8th trip and it has never been this sunny, blue skies, and hot in any of my previous trips! We have done 2 excursions- puppy camp in Skagway which we do every time as the kids LOVE it and 26 glaciers in Whittier, which was amazing!

 

Food and service has been top notch! This is my first trip without drink package for me or soda package for kids. We are ordering what we want, when we want it, and so far haven’t come close to paying what we would have paid for the packages! More on that when I review on my return!

 

Any questions, let me know and I will do my best to answer or find out!

We also where on the March trip and I agree with you that it was NOT a very good trip. I see by your other comments that things have NOT changed very much. When you do get back from your cruise I would like to see your overall comments for the Royal.

So far we have not been back to Princess and are trying NCL and MSC. 

[ceilidh1]

Just now, Tempo said:

We also where on the March trip and I agree with you that it was NOT a very good trip. I see by your other comments that things have NOT changed very much. When you do get back from your cruise I would like to see your overall comments for the Royal.

So far we have not been back to Princess and are trying NCL and MSC. 

Not sure which comments you are referring to, but this trip has been perfect so far! Service and food is outstanding, more than enough staff, no lines for bars or even afternoon tea/pub lunch, etc!! I have no complaints this time other than not wanting the trip to end!

[ceilidh1]

On 8/12/2019 at 11:42 AM, 1emerald1 said:

Can you ask Maitre'd Generoso Mazzone what ship he will be on after this contract?  Thank you.

I’m not ignoring your question...I just haven’t seen the Maître’d! Sorry! Our head waiter is Irina and she is fabulous - checks in twice a night, every night! She is heading to Sky for the inaugural sailing!

[1emerald1]

30 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

I’m not ignoring your question...I just haven’t seen the Maître’d! Sorry! Our head waiter is Irina and she is fabulous - checks in twice a night, every night! She is heading to Sky for the inaugural sailing!

Thanks so much!  I too am heading for the Sky and am so excited.  Anything you can find out will be greatly appreciated!  Glad you're enjoying the cruise.

[Tempo]

35 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

Not sure which comments you are referring to, but this trip has been perfect so far! Service and food is outstanding, more than enough staff, no lines for bars or even afternoon tea/pub lunch, etc!! I have no complaints this time other than not wanting the trip to end!

Well that is good news, if you do not want the trip to end it must be better than in March.

Thanks for your come back

[leck57]

I'm also on Royal now. Weather has been fantastic and although today in Juneau was cloudy, it wasn't cold.

The net has been better than I expected after reading comments on here. A fair bit slower than home but I've still been able to have video chats back to Australia just about anytime I wanted.

Finally, there have been one or two doom merchants on here saying that the Royal is not suitable for Alaska. Wrong.

[ceilidh1]

12 minutes ago, leck57 said:

I'm also on Royal now. Weather has been fantastic and although today in Juneau was cloudy, it wasn't cold.

The net has been better than I expected after reading comments on here. A fair bit slower than home but I've still been able to have video chats back to Australia just about anytime I wanted.

Finally, there have been one or two doom merchants on here saying that the Royal is not suitable for Alaska. Wrong.

I’ve sailed Alaska 8 times now so the ship and ports were not my primary focus. I have to say, in terms of ships, Royal hasn’t been the best suited for Alaska! We have had an excellent trip and loved every second BUT the lack of a promenade deck, the lack of an indoor pool, the inability to sail the inside passage, and the fact that most of the windows in public areas are blocked by lifeboats mean that (for me) Royal was not the best choice for Alaska! That being said, I wouldn’t hesitate to sail her again (as long as Matt O was on-board).....

[Pati]

On royal now. Great trip. Have noticed slow service in dining but minimal disruptions. Friendly staff. Quickly proceeding to Ketchikan to cut day short tomorrow to be able to leave earlier to make it under the bridge in Vancouver by 4:30 am. So shore excursions in disarray at the moment with cancels and revised times. In Ketchikan from 9-3 tomorrow.