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

[Maitaivegas]

Wow sorry to hear John wasn’t well, being sick on holiday is the worst.

The head waiter sounded like he was trying to cover himself against any food poisoning complaints, I would have walked away while he was ranting.

I hope your trip got better, can’t wait to read about it. 💕💕

[little britain]

One of the best reviews I’ve read in ages! Please don’t get off!!!

[sgmn]

Happy for you that it wasn't covid, but sounds like a really nasty bout of gastroenteritis 

And what bad luck you had to contend with those rude ignorant people at the ice show. 

Hope things start to improve for the rest of the trip

[CaroleC]

Great detailed review, I feel as if I’m there with you. Hope John improves enough for you to continue your cruise.

[Bobal]

Just a heads up for those if you who don't seem to have read the whole of the first post. The cruise took place several weeks ago and the OP just now bringing us up to speed 😄

Edited November 6, 2021 by Bobal

[jjsparkles]

9 hours ago, Jimbo said:

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?

 

We did get a letter the following day saying John would get 1 day FCC and we'd get an email within 30 days - we don't have it yet. It was more like 2 days, but I won't argue about it because we didn't expect anything really. 

 

Yes, we always have travel insurance but I wouldn't have thought anything would be covered in these circumstances. I thought they only refunded any out of pocket expenses, which we didn't have. Happy to be told otherwise if I'm wrong 🙂

8 hours ago, Maitaivegas said:

Wow sorry to hear John wasn’t well, being sick on holiday is the worst.

The head waiter sounded like he was trying to cover himself against any food poisoning complaints, I would have walked away while he was ranting.

I hope your trip got better, can’t wait to read about it. 💕💕

 

It wasn't fun at all. The head waiter was an absolute pest - we were still eating when he made his appearance....

 

7 hours ago, little britain said:

One of the best reviews I’ve read in ages! Please don’t get off!!!

 

 

Aww, thanks so much!

 

7 hours ago, sgmn said:

Happy for you that it wasn't covid, but sounds like a really nasty bout of gastroenteritis 

And what bad luck you had to contend with those rude ignorant people at the ice show. 

Hope things start to improve for the rest of the trip

 

Yes, just bad luck. They were lunatics 🙄The crew deserve medals for dealing with that nonsense.

 

5 hours ago, CaroleC said:

Great detailed review, I feel as if I’m there with you. Hope John improves enough for you to continue your cruise.

 

Thanks so much!

 

5 hours ago, Bobal said:

Just a heads up for those if you who don't seem to have read the whole of the first post. The cruise took place several weeks ago and the OP just now bringing us up to speed 😄

 

Well spotted 😉

[jjsparkles]

Thursday 21 October –  Civitavecchia - Rome

Determined to have a great day today, we were up bright and early ready for our trip to Rome.  I had a peek outside and it was a bit overcast.

 

 

We headed for a quick breakfast at the Windjammer. Yurie, our dinner waiter, was also there. We had a nice wee chat and he said that they all do a rotation in the Windjammer just now as they're not fully staffed yet.

 

After this it was time to make our way to the theatre at 8:30 for our excursion and I think everything was organised very well. We bought a large bottle of water for the trip, which unbeknown to us was included in the drinks package we had which was good. 

 

We were all asked to check we had our tickets, seapass card, photo id and the Italian Passenger Locator Form. Nobody actually looked at anything either getting off or on the ship except our seapass card. The tour was called Panoramic Rome.

 

 

We sent this pic to the kids and we got one back from Mark, our eldest son, with him sitting on a train wrapped up as it was freezing back home, lol.

 

Our tour guide was lovely and it took about an hour and a half to get to Rome. She told us in no uncertain terms that we could not, under any circumstances, leave the tour group we were in. We could only go where she specifically said we could otherwise we would jeopardise us being allowed back on the ship. I'd also read on another board that this did actually happen a week or so before. 

 

The tour was mostly by coach and we'd tour the city and then stop for a while at a small cafe/gift shop a St Peter's Basillica, Vatican City. We still managed to get some decent pictures from the coach. I can't remember the details of everywhere so I'm not going to try, but I do know that this is the Colosseum

 

And that this is a pyramid....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently Frank Sinatra would visit here to play piano 

 

 

 

Then it was time for our stop. Due to all the narrow streets the coach turned into a large enclosed car park and within minutes we were at St Peter's Basilica

 

We were taken first to a small cafe where we could purchase drinks/snacks and it also had a gift shop. The only thing we ever buy on holiday is fridge magnets....so we picked up a lovely Roma one here. We both got some drinks and then headed outside. Our guide had given us headphones as we left the coach so that we could here her from the cafe and when in the square which was a great idea. She gathered us together and gave some info on the square. We were here for around 30 minutes to take photos but were not allowed to go anywhere on our own to explore. Honestly, that was ok with us. 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon it was time to board the coach again and we were off back on our way to the ship, arriving there around 2pm. So we had the rest of the day to look forward to onboard 🙂

 

Why do we all take multiple photos of the ship, often the exact same photo? It's a puzzler...

 

We didn’t fancy lunch at the windjammer and wandered into the Park Café instead. I had a really nice tuna toastie and salad, John had a roast beef bun and salad.

 

 

It was so quiet here, we sat outside. I like that you can grab a packet of crisps for later too. John was still too scared to eat properly, but he did enjoy this. We had a wander round the ship and grabbed some drinks and cakes from Cafe Promenade and then headed to the card room.

 

 

 

 

Yes, I know we're not at a card table, but there were a few other tables occupied and this was out the way in the corner. 

 

We took a walk upstairs - lovely view 

 

 

Then we decided to have a wee game of crazy golf

 

 

No, you don't need to wear a mask outside, lol - he had taken my bag so it was easier for me to play and totally forgot to take his mask off.

 

 

We had a bit of fun here and then spent some time watching people on the Flow Rider - I love watching their faces when they manage to do it, it looks like so much fun.

 

Back inside now and we headed back to our room

 

 

 

We put our feet up for a bit and then got ready for dinner. What would we have tonight....

 

I started with the pate

 

John stuck with the salad which I forgot to photo. Next up was mains, I had the herb crust salmon which was really nice

 

John went crazy and ordered the lasagne, which he instantly regretted....

 

 

I had some kind of banana dessert which was really nice

 

 

John had an apple something, sorry can't remember the name

 

 

We had lovely service again from Yurie and tried our best to dodge the crazy head waiter, but he got to us before we started eating....then thankfully saw some other guests arriving and aimed at them instead....

 

After this we headed to Dazzles and this time actually watched the band for a while who were good. I had the virgin pina colada which was delicious.

 

 

 

It's a shame it was so quiet in here, it was still a bit early but even so, they were playing very well to almost no-one. 

 

Tired now after our busy day we headed back to the cabin.

 

So, we'd actually had a really nice day. Seen some of Rome, relaxed and explored the ship and managed to dodge the manic waiter - a successful day 🙂 Naples tomorrow 🥰

[jjsparkles]

Friday 22 October - Naples

 

We both slept well and I opened the curtains to this lovely view

 

 

Our tour in Naples wasn't until this afternoon so we had the morning to relax. We had a lazy morning and grabbed some tea and coffee from Cafe Promenade. A few photos along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

Then upstairs to check out the view

 

 

 

 

 

We both really liked the solarium. Always chairs available and so quiet. 

 

 

 

 

I think we sat here for a while before going for an early lunch at the Park Cafe. More toasties and salads.

 

 

 

It was a bit colder today, with some light rain. 

 

Today's meeting point was in Studio B, again very well organised. Soon we were on the coach and off on our travels. There was no long drive today, the cruise port is right in Naples. Our guide was again very nice and gave us the warnings to stay together. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at a small cafe where we had could choose from either a drink or gelato. It started raining heavily when we were in here. The coach then made its way up some very narrow, winding roads and almost got stuck on one turn. There were some lovely views from the top and the coach stopped to let us all out for a photo op

 

Mount Vesuvius

 

We could also see Capri. If we ever visit again, I'd love to do the excursion to Capri. It is an all day visit and I think would be best to see on a beautiful sunny day.

 

The view from here was stunning 

 

 

 

Our final stop was back in the centre of Naples. I'm sorry, I can't recall the name of this square but our guide did say that it was based on St Peter's Square in Rome where we'd been yesterday.

 

 

 

We then walked from here through a few streets and into a large shopping centre

 

 

 

 

 

Soon we were back on the coach and on our way back to the ship. The tour only took 3 hours but it felt like we'd seen quite a lot. There are shops inside the cruise terminal to pick up gifts etc and we located a nice Napoli magnet for our collection, lol.

 

Back on the ship, we headed to Cafe Promenade for some drinks and cake. I tried one of the cold drinks this time, I think it was a Mocha frap - it was ok. Not as great as Costa/Starbucks but fine. I'd have like more choice on the cold drinks in here. 

 

 

 

I don't remember what we did next, but most likely headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. 

 

We had debated trying Chops Grille for dinner but John wasn't sure he could deal with a full on 3 course menu but really fancied a steak. I suggested we just try the chops steak option in the main dining room instead. There's a charge of 16.99 each for this, plus gratuity. I think it worked out around 21 dollars each.

 

We both started with the cheese/fruit plate which was really nice

 

I like my steak well done so Yurie suggested getting mine done butterfly, so it would cook quicker.

 

 

We both really enjoyed the meal. The steak was delicious. We were both really full up and I suggested we skip dessert. A 3 course meal each night is too much and we were absolutely stuffed. Yurie wasn't around so we spoke to our other waiter, Gorden and said that we'd had a lovely meal but were full up and were going to leave without having dessert. Well, apparently that's unheard of because manic head waiter with sonic hearing appears within a nano second and the craziness starts...'why are you leaving?' 'we can get your dessert to you in 30 seconds' 'do you want to take it to your room?' 'do you want me to send it to your room?' 'was the meal ok?' ' are you enjoying your experience in the dining room?' 'are you coming back tomorrow?'

 

Are you not allowed to say you've had enough to eat? He was honestly crazy x 10. Actually it got me thinking that if you had a discreet reason you wanted to leave you'd really struggle because he created a lot of fuss which had everyone around us looking over to see what was going on. There was nothing to see here, we were just ready to go....He really was too much for us. 

 

We popped into the cabin for a bit and then went for a walk, catching the end of the Aqua Theatre Show

 

 

From what we saw, the performers were fantastic. I had my heart in my mouth as they dived from the top board!

 

We quite like quizzes and I'd noticed we hadn't been to any on this cruise. Name that Tune, 70's was about to start in On Air so we headed in. I had another lovely pina colada and John as still sticking with the water after our heavy meal. 

 

Anyway, we won! We got them all right apart from 1 song that we missed. We won some pens and both laughed at this photo when we noticed the wall art in the background.

 

 

After this we headed downstairs to The Attic to watch the comedian. I can't recall his name but he was good. It got quite busy in here and I liked that the comedian didn't pick on anyone in the audience, which I've seen a few times before. 

 

Tired now we headed back to our room. We'd had a lovely day. Naples was gorgeous and I can just imagine it being even more beautiful on a sunny day.

 

 

Night, night 😴

 

[Merion_Mom]

14 hours ago, live2cruise2011 said:

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

 

Actually, that's $1949 before gratuities.  

[BSocial]

Really enjoying your writing style and pictures !  Looking forward to tomorrow's segments. 
 

 

[Merion_Mom]

5 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

Thursday 21 October –  Civitavecchia - Rome

Determined to have a great day today, we were up bright and early ready for our trip to Rome.  I had a peek outside and it was a bit overcast.

 

 

 

 

And that this is a pyramid....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

@jjsparkles - your photos are wonderful, and your whole review is gripping!

 

That's the Tomb of Gaius Cestius, who apparently thought that he deserved a magnificent send-off.

 

And that's the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the papal basilicas.

 

🙂 

[mrpie90]

11 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

Friday 22 October - Naples

 

We both slept well and I opened the curtains to this lovely view

 

 

Our tour in Naples wasn't until this afternoon so we had the morning to relax. We had a lazy morning and grabbed some tea and coffee from Cafe Promenade. A few photos along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

Then upstairs to check out the view

 

 

 

 

 

We both really liked the solarium. Always chairs available and so quiet. 

 

 

 

 

I think we sat here for a while before going for an early lunch at the Park Cafe. More toasties and salads.

 

 

 

It was a bit colder today, with some light rain. 

 

Today's meeting point was in Studio B, again very well organised. Soon we were on the coach and off on our travels. There was no long drive today, the cruise port is right in Naples. Our guide was again very nice and gave us the warnings to stay together. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at a small cafe where we had could choose from either a drink or gelato. It started raining heavily when we were in here. The coach then made its way up some very narrow, winding roads and almost got stuck on one turn. There were some lovely views from the top and the coach stopped to let us all out for a photo op

 

Mount Vesuvius

 

We could also see Capri. If we ever visit again, I'd love to do the excursion to Capri. It is an all day visit and I think would be best to see on a beautiful sunny day.

 

The view from here was stunning 

 

 

 

Our final stop was back in the centre of Naples. I'm sorry, I can't recall the name of this square but our guide did say that it was based on St Peter's Square in Rome where we'd been yesterday.

 

 

 

We then walked from here through a few streets and into a large shopping centre

 

 

 

 

 

Soon we were back on the coach and on our way back to the ship. The tour only took 3 hours but it felt like we'd seen quite a lot. There are shops inside the cruise terminal to pick up gifts etc and we located a nice Napoli magnet for our collection, lol.

 

Back on the ship, we headed to Cafe Promenade for some drinks and cake. I tried one of the cold drinks this time, I think it was a Mocha frap - it was ok. Not as great as Costa/Starbucks but fine. I'd have like more choice on the cold drinks in here. 

 

 

 

I don't remember what we did next, but most likely headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. 

 

We had debated trying Chops Grille for dinner but John wasn't sure he could deal with a full on 3 course menu but really fancied a steak. I suggested we just try the chops steak option in the main dining room instead. There's a charge of 16.99 each for this, plus gratuity. I think it worked out around 21 dollars each.

 

We both started with the cheese/fruit plate which was really nice

 

I like my steak well done so Yurie suggested getting mine done butterfly, so it would cook quicker.

 

 

We both really enjoyed the meal. The steak was delicious. We were both really full up and I suggested we skip dessert. A 3 course meal each night is too much and we were absolutely stuffed. Yurie wasn't around so we spoke to our other waiter, Gorden and said that we'd had a lovely meal but were full up and were going to leave without having dessert. Well, apparently that's unheard of because manic head waiter with sonic hearing appears within a nano second and the craziness starts...'why are you leaving?' 'we can get your dessert to you in 30 seconds' 'do you want to take it to your room?' 'do you want me to send it to your room?' 'was the meal ok?' ' are you enjoying your experience in the dining room?' 'are you coming back tomorrow?'

 

Are you not allowed to say you've had enough to eat? He was honestly crazy x 10. Actually it got me thinking that if you had a discreet reason you wanted to leave you'd really struggle because he created a lot of fuss which had everyone around us looking over to see what was going on. There was nothing to see here, we were just ready to go....He really was too much for us. 

 

We popped into the cabin for a bit and then went for a walk, catching the end of the Aqua Theatre Show

 

 

From what we saw, the performers were fantastic. I had my heart in my mouth as they dived from the top board!

 

We quite like quizzes and I'd noticed we hadn't been to any on this cruise. Name that Tune, 70's was about to start in On Air so we headed in. I had another lovely pina colada and John as still sticking with the water after our heavy meal. 

 

Anyway, we won! We got them all right apart from 1 song that we missed. We won some pens and both laughed at this photo when we noticed the wall art in the background.

 

 

After this we headed downstairs to The Attic to watch the comedian. I can't recall his name but he was good. It got quite busy in here and I liked that the comedian didn't pick on anyone in the audience, which I've seen a few times before. 

 

Tired now we headed back to our room. We'd had a lovely day. Naples was gorgeous and I can just imagine it being even more beautiful on a sunny day.

 

 

Night, night 😴

 

John is looking a lot better.

must be because he won a pen.

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

12 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

 

 

Perfect!

 

Enjoying your review and on the Harmony TA presently where we are having a fabulous cruise.  Not doing MDR so glad I avoided Crazy HW! 

[Steeler Nation At Sea]

8 hours ago, Merion_Mom said:

@jjsparkles - your photos are wonderful, and your whole review is gripping!

 

That's the Tomb of Gaius Cestius, who apparently thought that he deserved a magnificent send-off.

 

And that's the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the papal basilicas.

 

🙂 

 

I bet your classes were fun!  🤩 

[LizikinsLivesToCruise]

20 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

•  

 

Tired now we headed back to our room. We'd had a lovely day. Naples was gorgeous and I can just imagine it being even more beautiful on a sunny day.

 

 

Night, night 😴

 

 

Really enjoying this review, and can't wait to cruise the Med again.

[Jimbo]

23 hours ago, jjsparkles said:

 

We did get a letter the following day saying John would get 1 day FCC and we'd get an email within 30 days - we don't have it yet. It was more like 2 days, but I won't argue about it because we didn't expect anything really. 

 

Yes, we always have travel insurance but I wouldn't have thought anything would be covered in these circumstances. I thought they only refunded any out of pocket expenses, which we didn't have. Happy to be told otherwise if I'm wrong 🙂

 

Might be worth a shot following up with your travel insurance if you could file a trip interruption because your husband was not allowed to leave the cabin  per Royal Caribbean.

 

Not sure if you mentioned it or not but for your sailing was Windjammer, self serve  like  normal or was it still the crew putting items on your plate?

Edited November 7, 2021 by Jimbo

[mchin]

Love your trip review!  Thank you for sharing!  We are scheduled to do the same itinerary, although different ship, in June 2022.  I am planning our travel and lodging arrangements now.   🙂

[Itchy&Scratchy]

On 11/6/2021 at 5:44 PM, jjsparkles said:

John went crazy and ordered the lasagne, which he instantly regretted....

did he regret it because his stomach was still misbehaving or was it not good? Glad he was feeling better...

 

On 11/6/2021 at 5:44 PM, jjsparkles said:

I like that you can grab a packet of crisps for later too.

that was the highlight of the entire cruise for my then 8 yo son - unlimited potato chips and Doritos at Park Cafe. LOL

 

On 11/6/2021 at 5:44 PM, jjsparkles said:

John had an apple something, sorry can't remember the name

apple blossom, I believe

 

On 11/6/2021 at 5:44 PM, jjsparkles said:

I had some kind of banana dessert which was really nice

banana foster, I think

 

Thank you for the lovely review!!! I am enjoying it! More, please!

 

P.S. This is the funniest thing ever:

On 11/6/2021 at 7:05 PM, jjsparkles said:

we were going to leave without having dessert. Well, apparently that's unheard of because manic head waiter with sonic hearing appears within a nano second and the craziness starts.

Edited November 8, 2021 by Itchy&Scratchy

[jjsparkles]

On 11/6/2021 at 11:44 PM, BSocial said:

Really enjoying your writing style and pictures !  Looking forward to tomorrow's segments. 
 

 

 

Thanks, glad you're enjoying it - sorry for the delay, will update again soon 🙂

 

On 11/7/2021 at 3:28 AM, Merion_Mom said:

@jjsparkles - your photos are wonderful, and your whole review is gripping!

 

That's the Tomb of Gaius Cestius, who apparently thought that he deserved a magnificent send-off.

 

And that's the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the papal basilicas.

 

🙂 

 

Lol, thank so much 😊 Great knowledge, thank you 👍

 

On 11/7/2021 at 10:31 AM, mrpie90 said:

John is looking a lot better.

must be because he won a pen.

 

Yip, that was it - winning something will cheer you up, lol 🙂

 

On 11/7/2021 at 11:40 AM, Steeler Nation At Sea said:

Perfect!

 

Enjoying your review and on the Harmony TA presently where we are having a fabulous cruise.  Not doing MDR so glad I avoided Crazy HW! 

 

Oh, that sounds lovely - hope you have a great time. Maybe you should go and track him down just for the sheer fun of it 😄

 

On 11/7/2021 at 7:44 PM, LizikinsLivesToCruise said:

 

Really enjoying this review, and can't wait to cruise the Med again.

 

Thank you - it really was lovely. I'd love to do it all over again

 

On 11/7/2021 at 8:20 PM, Jimbo said:

Might be worth a shot following up with your travel insurance if you could file a trip interruption because your husband was not allowed to leave the cabin  per Royal Caribbean.

 

Not sure if you mentioned it or not but for your sailing was Windjammer, self serve  like  normal or was it still the crew putting items on your plate?

 

Thanks, I'll take a look into that. In the Windjammer, and everywhere else, you are served everything by the crew. That includes tea/coffee/juice - there are lots of crew everywhere. It worked out great and there was never more than 1 person in front of us for anything.

 

15 hours ago, mchin said:

Love your trip review!  Thank you for sharing!  We are scheduled to do the same itinerary, although different ship, in June 2022.  I am planning our travel and lodging arrangements now.   🙂

 

Aww that's great! Hope you have a fantastic time 🙂

 

13 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

did he regret it because his stomach was still misbehaving or was it not good? Glad he was feeling better...

 

that was the highlight of the entire cruise for my then 8 yo son - unlimited potato chips and Doritos at Park Cafe. LOL

 

apple blossom, I believe

 

banana foster, I think

 

Thank you for the lovely review!!! I am enjoying it! More, please!

 

P.S. This is the funniest thing ever:

 

Lasagne - as soon as it arrived he realised it was probably too rich for him. He was just too scared to eat anything with a sauce. 

 

Thanks for the names of the desserts, you're spot on now I hear it again 👍

 

Lol, you really had to be there - he was on another level 😐

 

 

Thanks everyone for reading along - update will be coming soon - real life has got in the way again 🙃

[P_and_L]

You had mentioned that the HDMI was blocked off on the TV - is it completely inaccessible, or something that can possibly be accesses with a pry tool or similar?

[jjsparkles]

On 11/9/2021 at 3:33 PM, P_and_L said:

You had mentioned that the HDMI was blocked off on the TV - is it completely inaccessible, or something that can possibly be accesses with a pry tool or similar?

 

I don't think you'd be able to reach it with anything. There is a large bracket on the back of the tv so that you can move the tv out from the wall and turn towards the bed. The hdmi connection was on the right side of the tv, but this was the side that stayed tight against the wall/cabinet. I have quite small hands and tried everything - i could not even feel the hdmi port it was so tight against the wall/cabinet. 

 

I have watched videos on you tube where they've been able to plug in ok, but maybe their tv moved in the opposite direction? It was very annoying.

[jjsparkles]

Saturday 23 October – Sea day

 

Was it really our last day already? We were just getting into the swing of things.

 

I forgot to say that last night we'd had our luggage tags delivered for leaving tomorrow. We had number 15 and when I checked the estimated time of departure, it was 07:15 😵

 

I had a peek outside and it was a bit warmer today, could tell we were on our way back to Spain. 

 

 

 

 

We wandered the windjammer and John still not wanting a big breakfast really didn’t fancy anything there. We went on our morning walk along the top decks and stopped at the Solarium Bistro. We headed inside and found a few bits to have a light breakfast. It was nice in here, very calm and less hectic than the windjammer. I wish we’d realised they had breakfast here earlier in the week.

 

Then it was time for a covid test. This time we knew where we were going, but also they had arrows on the floor to direct you. These had been missing the first time we’d tried so I’m glad I wasn’t being daft in not being able to find it before.🙂

 

I was checking our account and realised we hadn’t been charged for our steaks last night so we went to the dining room to give them our cards to pay. Oh, that was a challenge to explain. In the end they thanked us for returning to pay and our account was duly debited. Thankfully our head waiter was nowhere to be seen.....

 

Back upstairs and outside, we sat on the chairs at the back of the ship, had a drink and played cards for a bit. I fancied another pina colada and asked the bar tender for some kind of flavour. She happily added mango and it was really delicious. 

 

 

 

 

These chairs are surprising comfortable, once you get yourself up there, lol. 

 

We popped down to the schooner bar for the Friends quiz next which was fun. We didn't win but came very close 🙂

 

Then we were back upstairs and made our way along the deck to the Solarium

 

 

 

 

And another few games of cards

 

 

A bit peckish now we decided to try the Bistro again for lunch. I really liked the options in here, similar to Windjammer but less food to deal with, making it easier to make a decision. Lovely staff in here too. 

 

After this we went back to our room for a bit and I packed up the room so that we could enjoy the rest of the day, it didn't take long. 

 

We had a bit of a rest on the balcony. Actually we'd hardly used it at all which was a shame, but I really had enjoyed being able to get some fresh air each morning. I just love looking at the sea...

 

 

 

 

We left here and wandered the shops to see if there was anything the kids would like. There wasn't much for them. I found the perfume/make-up over priced (as expected) but we did pick up a fridge magnet of the ship for our collection🚢

 

I’m not a coffee buff,  but I do enjoy a latte and had been happy with the ones from Café Promenade. John really likes Starbucks fraps and fancied trying one to see how he got on. We thought we’d get them before going to watch Grease which was showing at 15:30. The Starbucks here I noticed was always very quiet, in fact the Boardwalk area in general was always quiet. I don’t have an alligence to Starbucks but I do really like their mugs and they fit perfectly with our coffee machine at home. Our eldest son Mark likes his coffee too and we always try to pick up a different mug wherever we are. They didn’t have anything European here just Miami and Florida. But as Mark was in Miami quite a bit and as we’d been to Florida I just got them anyway 😄 The Florida mug is so pretty.

 

I got my usual latte from Cafe Promenade and we headed to the Royal Theatre to watch Grease.

 

 

 

To anyone wondering, the APP had shown the shows to be full and I thought we’d missed out, but I just kept looking now and then throughout the week and managed to find a space a couple of days before. The show was really well done, the cast clearly put a lot of work and effort into it.

**Please remember to cancel any reservations for shows you decide not to go to, it really will make someone’s day**

 

 

Not hungry after the show we headed upstairs again to enjoy the last of the sun in the Solarium

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry, another one that won't rotate.......

 

 

 

 

 

We had a wander back inside to decide what to do for dinner. 

 

No appetite to eat in the main dining room and honestly could not be bothered playing 20 questions again with the head waiter so thought we’d give Johnny Rockets a go.

 

 

 

It was really quiet and we were soon looking over the menu. We chose this because there was an option for John to have grilled Chicken burger instead of something fried. He was still too scared to eat normally and was being really careful around sauces/fried things etc. We also looked at Jamie’s Italian, but a 3 course meal was not for us at this time.

 

I asked for a plain cheeseburger with bacon

 

 

This was such a lovely burger. The bacon was delicious.

 

 

John's grilled chicken burger - again he asked for it plain

 

They gave us onion rings and fries too - which we nibbled at.

 

 

We really liked it in here and the staff were lovely. Really happy to pay for this meal and enjoyed the informal atmosphere much more than the dining room. When we’d finished we were asked if we wanted another burger, lol. We didn’t have room for that or a dessert, but were happy with what we’d had. And guess what, we were actually allowed to leave without having a dessert!!!

 

Next we headed to the Schooner bar for go at the Harry Potter trivia. 

 

 

It got really busy and we had fun playing along. It was quite hard....

 

We popped back to our room and packed up the final bits and pieces of luggage and put our case outside ready to be collected. 

 

Then we had a final walk on the decks outside. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love seeing everything lit up at night - so pretty

 

 

 

 

 

It was getting a wee bit chilly 😅

 

We had a cash account and wanted to close it down. As we were heading to guest services I spotted that our account had been debited with the steak again….our servers must have done it when we didn’t show up for dinner, not realising we’d already paid. Thankfully the lovely girl in guest services sorted it out for us. She also spotted we hadn’t spent much on our account and that we’d have a lot of dollars to get back. I asked if it could be paid onto one of our cards instead of getting in cash and she said yes, no problem. I use the Revolut card abroad and know that it could accept a refund in dollars, which I can then covert to pounds at a good rate – she said it would take up to 7 days but actually we got the refund 2 days later – very pleased with the service here. She was fab and we’ve mentioned her in our survey. I honestly didn’t expect this and thought I’d have to accept cash so was really happy with the result.

 

Next a final visit to Central Park 

 

 

 

We picked up some drinks from the bar here and headed upstairs to the card room. I'd intended to take some photos in here but there were quite a few people around so I didn't bother. We liked the card room and that it was tucked away - was never very busy.

 

Both tired, we headed back to our room as we knew we'd have an early start tomorrow. 

 

The week had flown by, and I was sad it was over already 🙁

 

 

 

 

 

[kernow]

Can't believe I've only just found this review, I've really enjoyed reading it, thank you.

 

Glad John recovered enough to be able to enjoy some of the holiday, he certainly looks a lot happier in the later photos. We've had a couple of waiters/head waiters like your one, think they are worried you will give them a bad score in the survey and go over the top which can be even more annoying.☺️

[BekkaW]

Great review, thank you! We were partially on this with you, having boarded in Rome a few days before you boarded in Barcelona. We really enjoyed this cruise, although in future I would board in Barcelona rather than Rome. Things like the app didn’t work for us, and we weren’t successful on Royal Up even though some of the rooms we bid on then sat empty. Civitavecchia is also a lengthy and expensive transfer, compared to Barcelona. 
 

Sorry to hear John was unwell but I’m glad he recovered and was able to enjoy some of the time. 

[Tree_skier]

I enjoyed your review.  So sorry your husband was not well, that must have put a damper on things.  Thanks for brining us along on your journey.