Royal Newbies return from Harmony of the Seas Med cruise - Trip Report

[jjsparkles]

We’re newbies to Royal, back from our cruise on Harmony of the Seas from Barcelona and thought I’d do a wee trip report 😊 I had intended to start this the week we got back but as always, real life gets in the way. 

 

I’m Julie, travelling with my husband John and we're from Scotland. Despite being on 2 cruises previously, we don’t really consider ourselves cruisers 😄 Our eldest son worked for Carnival in the entertainment crew for a few years pre-covid which is why we did a couple of cruises with them. We had a 2 fantastic family cruises with him and our other 2 kids. The ships were smaller and we timed our days around our son and when we’d be able to see him. So we were really looking forward to being on our own for this holiday and doing things in our own time.

 

Like the rest of the world, we’ve had a couple of rubbish years, so were so excited to get a holiday and our plan was just to relax and do nothing for a week. John was 50 in January and had always wanted to visit Italy, so this was a wee treat for him.

 

Our booking:

We booked the cruise last minute with only 3 weeks before the sail date via the Royal Caribbean website directly. I'd actually just been browsing holidays with thoughts to book a week in Spain or something when I came across a fantastic deal for this sailing.  We chose a Guarantee Oceanview Balcony cabin. It was less than half the price of choosing our own room. We didn’t want a boardwalk/neighbourhood balcony and didn’t want to risk being allocated one. I noticed a sneaky thing that Royal do on the booking site. They give you two options, choose your own room, or let us choose for you. If you pick ‘let us choose’ then the specifics of the balcony rooms do not show up, so you take a gamble of getting ANY balcony room. If you select ‘choose your own room’ there was then a selection of balcony rooms and the Guarantee Oceanview Balcony is hiding at the bottom. I’m so glad I found it as it was less than half the price of choosing our own.  I worked out that even adding in flights and hotel stays we were around the same price, if not cheaper, than the all inclusive we almost booked in the Canaries 😮We also got an email about Royal Up and I made the minimum offer on a Junior Suite with no expectations at all. We were allocated our balcony room on deck 8 a few days before the cruise. Then two days before, I got the Royal up offer through and we got the Junior suite 🙂 

 

I spent the 3 weeks from booking doing lots of research. As a natural planner, felt a bit freaked out at booking everything so quickly. We chose a package excursion, A Taste of Italy, which included short trips to Pisa, Rome and Naples. We planned to do our own thing in Palma and enjoy the sea days. We also pre-booked the Refreshment Package and Surf and Stream so we could keep in touch with the kids. 

 

So, on with the story - apologies if this is in the wrong section

 

Saturday 16 October

We were up early and set off for Manchester airport. We couldn’t get any flights from Scotland direct to Barcelona and have flown from Manchester many times so it wasn't a problem.  Approx. 4 hours later we parked in the long stay car park and were happy to be early for our flight. The Easyjet check in area however was absolute chaos. The check in machines worked really well, our covid documents were reviewed quickly but when it came to loading our luggage the staff were useless. They were asking people to queue up but into differing areas which ultimately led to the same desk, so it took forever to drop our luggage. Anyway, security was quick and after an uneventful flight, we landed in sunny Barcelona after a couple of hours.

 

We grabbed a taxi quickly and checked into our hotel, Eurostars Grand Marina hotel. We chose this hotel as it’s located close to the port so we wanted an easy commute the next day. The taxi from the airport was around 40 euros. The hotel was lovely and the staff were absolutely fantastic. So nice, helpful and could not do enough for us. The room was a good size, large bathroom and plenty of storage if you needed it. We also had a nice balcony.

 

 

 

 

We dropped our bags and feeling hungry took advantage of the rooftop restaurant in the hotel. There were some stunning views over Barcelona and the port.

 

 

 

After dinner we took a short walk and were soon at the Columbus monument at the foot of Las Ramblas

 

Exhausted after our long day, we headed back to the hotel which was only 10 minutes walk

 

 

I organised our bags for the next day, attaching our luggage tags and we had an early night, looking forward to tomorrow 🚢

 

 

[LizikinsLivesToCruise]

Thank you very much for this report. I am looking forward to reading the rest of it.

[jjsparkles]

Sunday 17 October

We had a lazy morning with some coffee on our balcony. It was lovely and sunny 😎

 

 

 

 

Our check in time for the ship was 12:30 so we had plenty of time. We popped up to the roof again to see the ship in port with a Norwegian ship docked beside, I think it was the Epic.

 

 

 

We could see the cable car line from up here too

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The view over the front of the hotel 

 

Taxis are stationed right outside the hotel which was handy and we checked out the hotel and made our way to the ship. It’s a short 5 minute taxi ride, cost approx. 11 euros.

 

The bag handlers were loading up outside the terminal, I noticed that they did not expect tips but we had a few euros handy anyway. Off into the terminal and we were sent first to get our covid tests. There was a bit of a queue and we probably waited about 15 minutes. After the covid test our documents were checked and we were 'checked in' and had to sit in a waiting area to wait for the results that were to be delivered via email. I could not get the wifi to work and my own network mobile didn’t work either. Many other passengers around said the same. I’m so glad we had everything else we needed printed out because I’d have struggled to get them from my phone. Eventually, after what felt like an age, I manged to get a signal and the emails popped through.

We made our way to the ship now and I was so excited to be actually boarding. The ship looked enormous!

 

 

 

I was so excited I didn't even realise I still had my mask on 😷

 

 

 

[luv2trvl]

following along, we board the Harmony January 23 

 

[jjsparkles]

Just as we were about to board the ship, I was asked for the sail passes – the app would not work and I couldn’t access them. I also hadn’t been able to print them because we couldn’t fill in the health section until the day before and we’d been in the hotel. I’m so glad I had added the passes to the Apple Wallet on my phone, so we were soon let onboard 🙂

 

First impressions were that the ship was beautiful 😍

 

 

The promenade did however remind me a wee bit of a shopping centre 😄 but it was really beautifully done.

It was around 1:30 by now and we headed to our room on deck 9, room number 9226.

 

 

 

 

 

I was delighted with the size of the room, loved the balcony and was strangely excited about the walk-in wardrobe 😂 The bath was another bonus and of course a kettle – I love my tea, lol.

 

Our room steward, Elvis, introduced himself and let us know that he'd be cleaning the room twice each day. He was very nice.

 

Happy with the room we went off to explore and headed back down to deck 5 to pick up our cups for the drinks package. I’d expected them to be in the room but they weren’t. I'd also hoped that there would be Wow bands, but I think I've read that they're not offering them just now. Guest services was quiet to we stopped there to set up our cash account. We also visited our muster drill station after watching the videos on the APP. This is such an improved experience from what we remember on Carnival - I know the ships will differ in how they do this, but I'm hoping that all ships adopt this much easier way of completing the muster drill. 

 

Off we headed for some lunch from the Windjammer. We enjoyed the view and some light things to eat. John wasn’t feeling very hungry, nor was I but this cake that I had was absolutely delicious.

 

 

After this we took some time to explore the ship. First stop, deck 8 and Central Park

 

 

 

 

 

We both though this area was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't quite believe that it was all real. We sent some photos to the kids and our daughter replied asking if we were 'sure it was on the ship' 😂

 

We wandered up to the top of the ship and explored the top decks. 

 

 

 

 

We soon found the Solarium and relaxed here for a while, enjoying the sun

 

 

We both really loved this area. We had a look at the APP and the shows and things over the week to come and made some reservations. 

 

We laughed at the daily reminder in the lifts of what day it was. (no matter what I do, I cannot get this image to rotate....but you get the idea)

 

 

Next was a stroll along the Boardwalk

 

 

We sent this photo to the kids...name the movie.....only one of the replied with the right answer 😐 Yes, we have failed as parents.........

 

 

 

After this we did a tour at the other end of the ship and visited the Spa. I just wanted a nosey around but of course we ended up being escorted and every single treatment available was described to us....

 

Into the Royal Theatre

 

 

Grease was showing tonight and I was so happy I'd managed to make reservations. We grabbed a drink at Cafe Promenade at some point, a latte for me and hot chocolate for John, which isn't actually on the menu but they made anyway.

 

We made our way back to our room and I noticed that the card I'd put in the door earlier for the lights was missing, very odd.

 

Our cases had been delivered and I quickly unpacked, wanting to get that out of the way. This wardrobe was fantastic, so easy to keep our stuff organised and plenty of hangers available. 

 

 

Time for a bit of time on the balcony which was fantastic. I really loved the foot stools, they make such a difference to comfort when relaxing.

 

 

We watched the ship back out of the dock and we were on our way!

 

John had been complaining of the cold most of the day, which isn't unusual for him. We'd had a really long few days before the holiday and he was exhausted. We decided to just have room service this evening as neither of us was keen on getting dressed for the dining room. The menu wasn't great but there were a few things we thought we'd try. I had the chicken tenders and John had the cheese/toast and chicken noodle soup. I like that you can order from the tv and I think it only took about 30 minutes to arrive. For anyone wondering, the table under the mirror moves very easily so was great for eating.

 

 

 

 

 

John was still really cold after our meal and really didn't feel like doing anything. We’d had reservations to watch Grease so I cancelled this on the APP. I had planned to plug in our hdmi cable to the tv to watch some Netflix but soon realised that they’d blocked off the access at the back….Now, I know why they do this. They want you out and about doing stuff on the ship or to purchase the movies. I don't go on holiday to watch tv, but I don't like that they remove a choice that is actually really simple to implement. We had the ipad with us so just used that instead. The Surf and Stream package worked well and we gave the kids a call to check they were all ok. 

 

Anyway as the night wore on, it became clear that John really wasn’t well. The coldness had turned into a fever and shivers. Then lots of running to the bathroom. I wanted to phone the doctor but as it was late John just wanted to try and sleep it off. So it was lights off for an early night 😴

 

 

[jjsparkles]

2 hours ago, LizikinsLivesToCruise said:

Thank you very much for this report. I am looking forward to reading the rest of it.

 

Hope you enjoy 🙂

 

1 hour ago, luv2trvl said:

following along, we board the Harmony January 23 

 

 Oh that sounds lovely - enjoy 🙂

[Missusdubbya]

Enjoying you review so far, hope John gets better

[maureencruiser]

Thank you for this wee report. 😜 I hope John is okay. 

[Merion_Mom]

I love seeing this cruise through a newcomer's eyes!  

 

You said that the cruise was really cheap, @jjsparkles.  And you have a Junior Suite!  I would (rudely) love to know what you paid!

[jjsparkles]

19 minutes ago, Missusdubbya said:

Enjoying you review so far, hope John gets better

Thanks for following along, more tomorrow 🙂

 

6 minutes ago, maureencruiser said:

Thank you for this wee report. 😜 I hope John is okay. 

Thanks, will do the next update tomorrow 🙂

 

4 minutes ago, Merion_Mom said:

I love seeing this cruise through a newcomer's eyes!  

 

You said that the cruise was really cheap, @jjsparkles.  And you have a Junior Suite!  I would (rudely) love to know what you paid!

Lol, thanks. I’ll dig out the paperwork and update tomorrow 🙂

[marktwothousand]

My lord you both look young for someone who has an “eldest son”. I think what we all really want to know are your beauty secrets!🤣 but in all seriousness, we are all rooting for John, please let us know how you guys are doing first and foremost 

Edited November 5, 2021 by marktwothousand

[Merion_Mom]

and PLEASE tell us that you went to the Medical Center to get checked out.

[Longhorn Cruiser]

@jjsparkles You left us with a Cliffhanger.....
 

 

[dani negreanu]

32 minutes ago, marktwothousand said:

My lord you both look young for someone who has an “eldest son”.

 

That's exactly what I was thinking.... More like honeymooners.

 

Hoping for John that he'll feel better in the morning.

[Jimbo]

26 minutes ago, Longhorn Cruiser said:

@jjsparkles You left us with a Cliffhanger.....
 

 

Good writer's always do that.......................

[Misbehavin8175]

3 hours ago, luv2trvl said:

following along, we board the Harmony January 23 

 

Were boarding the following Sunday 🙂

 

[woodz]

I'm loving this. Thanks for the taking us along. 

[perfect match]

😀 The cliffhanger is working! I’ll be checking back in to see how both of you are doing! Hope you’re both ok. 😀

[marktwothousand]

I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m waiting for the update 

[jjsparkles]

12 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

I love seeing this cruise through a newcomer's eyes!  

 

You said that the cruise was really cheap, @jjsparkles.  And you have a Junior Suite!  I would (rudely) love to know what you paid!

I suppose it's all relative but for us and what I've researched before for Royal cruises, I thought it was a decent deal. Here's what we paid:

 

£577.00 pp for the guarantee balcony oceanview cabin plus £77.14 pp gratuities. Total amount £1308.28. I think that's a good price for a 7 night med cruise on this class of ship. Royal up to the junior suite was the minimum bid of £145.00pp - So in total we paid £1598.28 for our room and gratuities. Someone else can do the maths and work out what it would have been in dollars, lol. Was it a good deal?

 

 

11 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

My lord you both look young for someone who has an “eldest son”. I think what we all really want to know are your beauty secrets!🤣 but in all seriousness, we are all rooting for John, please let us know how you guys are doing first and foremost 

 

😂😂 Thank you very much

 

11 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

and PLEASE tell us that you went to the Medical Center to get checked out.

 

Details on the way

 

11 hours ago, Longhorn Cruiser said:

@jjsparkles You left us with a Cliffhanger.....
 

 

 

This made me laugh out loud - thank you

11 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

That's exactly what I was thinking.... More like honeymooners.

 

Hoping for John that he'll feel better in the morning.

 

Thank you - more coming up now

11 hours ago, Jimbo said:

Good writer's always do that.......................

 

I promise, it was not intentional 🙃

 

10 hours ago, Misbehavin8175 said:

Were boarding the following Sunday 🙂

 

 

Have a lovely cruise

 

6 hours ago, woodz said:

I'm loving this. Thanks for the taking us along. 

 

Thank you, lol - more to follow soon

 

4 hours ago, perfect match said:

😀 The cliffhanger is working! I’ll be checking back in to see how both of you are doing! Hope you’re both ok. 😀

 

Honestly, not intentional at all, lol 

3 hours ago, marktwothousand said:

I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m waiting for the update 

 

Not long to wait now........

[live2cruise2011]

In dollars that would be just under $1850 for us Americans great start to the review 

[jjsparkles]

Monday 18 October

 

John had a bad night and neither of us slept much. By early morning it was apparent that John was quite ill. I phoned the on call nurse around 7am, apologised for waking her up and made arrangements to take him to the medical facility on deck 2. I had hoped someone would visit him as he really struggled to get out of bed, but we managed it in the end. I wasn't sure where the medical facility was and asked the nurse if I should use the lifts at the front or the back of the ship. She said front. She was wrong. We ended up in a crew corridor and luckily for us a very helpful crew member came with us to ensure we got to the medical centre. If we'd have used the lifts at the back of the ship we'd have been right there. 

 

Anyway, the nurse was lovely. She did a covid test first and then carried out some checks. The doctor also spent some time with him. He was absolutely shaking by this point and was saying to me he had to get back to bed.  We waited about 30 minutes for the covid result which was negative. Given his stomach problems I didn't think it would be covid but was relieved when we got the result. 

 

They diagnosed Gastroenteritis and as I’d known he was asked to isolate in the cabin until he was better. This was fine by him as he couldn’t have gone anywhere even if he’d wanted to. He was given some medicine and pain killers and we made our way back to the room. I was told I was free to leave the cabin as normal. I was feeling fine. 

 

Guest services called me to let me know that he was to stay in the room and that they’d arranged free wifi, free room service and free on demand movies. I asked if they could send up some water for him which they did. I had arranged for room service breakfast last night, using the menu on the door which arrived around 9:30. I had this and stayed in the cabin with John for most of the day. I was quite worried about him - he doesn't get ill. 

 

**Just want to make it clear at this point that we don't think he picked this up from eating or drinking on the ship. He wasn't hungry at all on the day we boarded and whilst he wasn't ill, he was really tired which is why we had ended up having room service for dinner. He ate very little and had only ordered food because he thought he wasn't feeling well because he was hungry. So whatever it was, we're pretty sure it was working on him that afternoon. I don't even think it was food or drink that caused it as we'd both eaten almost identical meals in the days leading up to the cruise. Honestly, I think he was just exhausted, hardly any sleep in the weeks leading up to the holiday, which is actually why we'd booked a holiday in the first place. We'd really had a hectic few months**

 

I found our room steward and explained what was happening. He gave us some fresh towels and asked if we needed anything else, which we didn't. 

 

A nurse called to explain that she was going to send someone up with paperwork for John to sign, simply stating his condition, some tips on what to eat/not to eat and that he would stay in the room until the medical centre deemed him fit. She asked that I return it to them quickly. 

 

Today was our day in Palma - it was beautiful outside.

 

 

 

I did try to sit on the balcony for a bit and let John sleep, but the phone had been going on and off all day from either guest services or the medical centre. It was very nice that they were looking after him, but actually I think they may also have been checking up on him to make sure he was in the room. 

 

I left the room to  see if I could find some lunch. There was nothing on the room service menu that appealed. It was at this point that I realised that there weren’t many options if you didn’t want a sit down location. I found the Park Café on deck 8 and picked up a takeaway salad. I also grabbed a latte from Café Promenade. I wish you could get speciality coffees from more locations. It would make sense to have this inside the Park Café too.

 

 

I took a quick walk around the top deck to stretch my legs. Palma looked lovely.

 

 

We put on a movie but John wasn't interested, he was just drifting in and out of sleep. The water in the cans puzzled me.....never seen this before

 

 

Our room was quite warm, despite the balcony door being locked. I called maintenance and ended up calling them a few times that day. Nobody ever turned up and by early afternoon I was exhausted so had a nap on the couch. I kept the curtains closed as the sun beating in was really strong.

 

I spent the rest of the day reading or watching TV. I realised that there is a tv schedule for the BBC HD channel. I found it completely by accident by Googling BBC HD and then a maritime tv schedule popped up. I'm still a bit confused as to why George Clark was on a BBC channel (one for our UK readers....) but I managed to pass the time. 

 

I also popped down to the medical centre after 4pm (which is when they open) to drop off the letter that had been left outside the door.

 

By dinner time I suggested to John that he tried some dry toast or something. I phoned room service to order something for me and asked if they could do toast for John. Initially they said no, but when I explained he was ill they were very helpful and suggested some boiled rice, crackers and bananas. I also got some more water and a drink for me so I didn't need to go out again. I was glad I had a kettle in the room so I wasn't going without my tea. John had ordered cereal the night before which had come with our breakfast order. He didn't touch any of it, so I kept the milk carton in the fridge which turned out to be so handy for my tea habit.

 

John managed a few bites of toast and couldn't even look at the rice. I was making sure he drank lots of water and had pain killers and medicine every 4 hours. 

 

We spoke with the kids to check on them and settled down with another movie - I honestly don't even remember what it was. The day had been a bit of a blur. 

 

Night-time in Palma

 

 

Another early night for me - Sea day tomorrow 

[jjsparkles]

Tuesday 19 October - Sea Day

 

John slept like a rock the whole night which was good but he was really weak when he woke. The nurse called to check on him and said she’d call again later in the afternoon.

 

I realised last night that there weren’t any more breakfast menus to put out, so I called room service for some breakfast this morning. You can’t order breakfast from the tv’s which you can do for lunch/dinner. Some more toast for John and he also tried some banana. He was too scared to try anything else as his stomach had settled down yesterday afternoon so was hoping he was over the worst of it. I made him pop his head onto the balcony to get some fresh air but it was a bit overcast this morning and he immediately felt cold, so was soon back in bed.

 

I took a trip to the café for my daily latte and then we spent the morning watching a movie/tv. 

 

I also called guest services to say that we wouldn’t be able to make the Pisa tour tomorrow. They were very good and arranged to cancel the excursion and also refund part of what we’d paid. I didn’t expect that as it had been a package tour over 3 days. The refund was put on our account instead of refunded to our payment card which I hadn’t expected either. They were really very good.

 

By lunchtime John said he was hungry but didn't know what he fancied to eat. I went to the Windjammer to have a look around and see if there was anything plain for him. There wasn't much suitable so I picked up a few bits of chicken, rice, bread - anything dry really. I put a plate over the top of it and brought it back to the room. Unsure if you're allowed to do this but nobody stopped me. Turned out he didn't eat any of it, other than the bread. 

 

The rest of the afternoon we watched more tv and John felt well enough to have a bath, so thankful for the room we had. I found our room steward and got some more towels and asked for some cleaning stuff so I could give the bathroom a clean up. 

 

The nurse called around 16:30 and after speaking with John said that he could leave the room now if he wanted to. He was still very weak, but was not deemed to be contagious.

 

***Ok, too much info coming up.....If you're unlucky to have the same problems you'll be isolated and confined to the cabin for 24 hours from when you've had your last 'episode in the bathroom' as the nurse put it😃

 

He got dressed and we sat on the balcony for a bit to see how he felt.

 

He had perked up a good bit by now

 

 

We took a stroll outside and he seemed to be ok. As we left we met our room steward who was happy to see us out and about. He said he'd do a full deep clean of the room for us whilst we were out.

 

John was still very weak and said he was actually hungry now. Nothing on the room service menu was appealing and we decided to try the Main dining room to see if anything interested him. We'd chosen My Time Dining and were on deck 3, American Icon Grill. 

 

 

We'd made early reservations for each day on the app and we soon realised that it was 'wear your best'. Neither of us were in the mood for dressing up, but there wasn't really anywhere casual to eat except Sorrento's which wasn't suitable. We changed into something smart, but not what we had planned to wear. We'd also had a note to say we had to get our covid test done for visiting Italy later in the week and to go to deck 3, outside the dining room. There was only a sign when we got here and we didn't find out how to get the test done, so we headed into dinner.

 

The dining room was really quiet so I doubt anyone was bothered that we weren't glammed up. The dining room is lovely, I really enjoyed the décor. We had table 266 and our waiters Yurie and Gorden were very nice.

 

 

We explained John had been ill and they suggested the chicken breast for him without gravy. I enjoyed our meal, I felt like I hadn't eaten properly in days. 

 

I started with the Caesar Salad

 

 

Then beef tenderloin

 

And finally Creme Brulee

 

 

John did well, ate some of the chicken and potatoes. He stuck with water to drink. He'd ordered a coke, as he usually does, but after a sip he didn't feel like it.

 

The head waiter came over to us. He welcomed us to the dining room then launched into so many questions I felt like we'd done something wrong. 'Where have you eaten the last 2 nights?' 'Why didn't you phone me to send something to your room?' 'Did you like the food?' 'Do you like the dining room?' 'Will you be back tomorrow?' He was smiling but seemed a little annoyed with us. He also wanted to know what the room service food had been like and if we'd been to the Windjammer or eaten anywhere else. He asked us at least 3 times if we'd be back tomorrow. I was exhausted after this grilling. 

 

Anyway, we left here and took a walk around. I ordered a drink from the Bionic Bar (just so I could say I had, lol)

 

And we went outside to the Boardwalk

 

 

I was quite surprised by how quiet the ship was. I know it's sailing limited capacity but the public areas always seemed quiet.

 

Upstairs to Central Park

 

And up to the top. Everything looks lovely all lit up.

 

 

 

We took a stroll to the Solarium

 

 

I've realised that I've taken lots of photos on my iphone that will not rotate now on the laptop - so apologies. I'm sure there's a way but I don't have the energy to investigate......

 

 

We headed back to our room and when we got there the room hadn't been cleaned. The phone rang and it was guest services. They said we had to get our covid test done and gave me detailed instructions of how to get there. They also asked why John hadn't answered the phone.....So it turns out they hadn't got or hadn't seen the email from the nurse confirming it was ok for him to leave the room. He apologised and said he'd get it sorted out. 

 

We spoke to the room steward and because of this, he hadn't had clearance to clean the room either. Confusion cleared up, we left the room so he could clean it and went to get our test done. 

 

On Deck 3, outside the dining room is a big banner that says Eurofins on it. This is the company who carries out the tests. There was nothing else. Guest services had said to go into the guest corridor behind the sign and walk almost to to the end of the corridor - from there you'll see a large room set up for testing. Test took 2 minutes and then we went for another walk. 

 

John was tired but we wanted to give the room steward some time, so we went into Dazzles to see if we could get to hear the band.  It's a really lovely venue

 

 

We sat downstairs. Nice comfy chairs

 

 

 

Neither of us are drinkers so I was looking forward to trying some mocktails. I asked the bar tender for something with pineapple in it and this was delicious. No idea what it was called. John ordered a coke again, but once again as he drank it he really didn't want to risk it upsetting his stomach, so ended up leaving it. 

 

 

We didn't wait for the band to start and left after a short time and headed back to our room. Our first towel animal of the cruise.

 

 

We called the kids and they were happy to hear the John was on the mend and had a least left the room. Both pretty exhausted now, we settled down for another early night with something on the ipad. 

 

Tomorrow was supposed to be our Pisa trip and despite John being signed off and able to visit, we knew we just wouldn't have the energy to do it. So I'm glad that we had cancelled it in the end. I think it's also good that Royal allowed that, given that he was technically able to visit. 

 

Anyway, we would treat tomorrow as a sea day and hopefully start to enjoy our holiday......

[jjsparkles]

Wednesday 20 October – La Spezia - Pisa/Florence

 

I woke quite early and peeked outside to see what kind of day it was. It was a bit overcast but didn't feel cold (of course cold to us is probably very different to those lucky enough to live somewhere sunny 😃)

 

 

 

Breakfast this morning in the windjammer. John still only able to eat very little and stuck with toast and banana. I had the pancakes, some bacon and eggs – a lovely wee treat that I really enjoyed. We enjoyed our morning stroll around the decks looking at the view

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a couple of hours in the Solarium. I tried the strawberry daquari which was lovely.

 

 

Poor John was still playing it safe and stuck with the water. I liked this area a lot. Very calm.

 

We’d had a lateish breakfast so didn’t want lunch. Instead we popped into the café for a latte for me and more water for John.

 

I think the coffees here are good. The staff were all really friendly too and there was never more than 1 person in front of me waiting. 

 

We had a wander round deck 4 to see what was there. We had reservations for the ice show tonight that i was looking forward to.

 

 

 

 

And another wander through the promenade.

 

 

We wandered up to Central Park 

 

 

We took a wee seat and I remembered I had cards in my bag so we had a game here. It was so quiet

 

 

Soon it was time for dinner and we headed back to the room to get changed. 

 

I had something salmon to start - I love salmon and this was really nice

 

 

Followed by the leg of lamb

 

John stuck with the same chicken meal he'd had last night

 

 

Finished off with profiteroles

 

 

Yurie and Gorden were lovely once again - the manic head waiter was too much for us again so we kept our interaction with him to a minimum.

 

We had reservations for the show on the ice rink and made our way there about 30 minutes before.

 

As we were seated, the crew member explained that we had to keep an empty seat between parties – no problem. About 20 mins later I heard one of the crew say to a couple behind us that they had to move along and keep a spare seat. 2 mins later a man came dashing down the stairs and flew himself into the seat beside me. The man on the other side started to speak to him to explain he couldn’t sit there and I said the same. He got really angry, said I was making up my own rules and he wasn’t sitting where he was told because he was behind a pole. Then he swore at me and rushed away.

 

The crew came down to sort it out and by this time the man’s partner was with him. They were shouting and screaming at her saying that they could sit there if they wanted because there wasn’t a ‘reserved’ sign on the seat. Their logic was that if they were not allowed to sit there, then there should be a sign on the seat. I don’t understand this at all…..the crew were very clear that they were sitting people in their own groups with one seat between. Not difficult to grasp is it? The actual point was that he happened to be placed behind a pole – if they’d been in the front rows they wouldn’t have said anything about being a seat between people. Oh and of course they didn’t have masks on😷

 

Anyway, the guy was still gesturing towards us and John was so angry with him. In the end we just stood up and left. No energy for people like this. They probably ended up with our good seats 🙃

 

Honestly, we could have just sat there and took it, but he was so loud we couldn't ignore him. This put a bit of a downer on the rest of the night so we called it a day and headed back to our room.

 

Would our nice relaxing holiday actually start tomorrow? Or should we just cut our losses and try and get a flight home from Rome?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 6, 2021 by jjsparkles

[Jimbo]

Sounds like you are going to need to do this cruise again.....a " Do Over"

 

Maybe Royal will give you a partial refund or did you have travel insurance for this cruise?

Edited November 6, 2021 by Jimbo