LIVE from Spectrum of the Seas (Hong Kong) - December 12

[agf1583]

Day 4

 

If you've been reading my report thus far, you know the drill. Went to bed at 1:30, got up at 8:00, hit the gym (it's the only way I can keep eating at this pace).

 

After the gym, I caught up on a little work, which was easy with the Voom internet. I am truly impressed with the speed and reliability they have achieved with this.

 

At 11:00 we had a reservation for bumper cars, followed immediately by Rock climbing (both loads of fun) . Bumper cars were reservation-only but rock climbing was walk-up.

 

 

At 11:30, we headed to Chops for the 2nd time this cruise...this time for lunch. 

 

We came hungry and were determined to make full use of our Unlimited Dining Package privilege for this meal. We decided that we wanted to split one of each appetizer (plus two salads) in addition to our entrees. When we ordered, the waiter acted very surprised and actively tried to discourage us from ordering so much, even suggesting it might upset the chef. I responded that we were hungry and knew how much we were ordering. He uneasily accepted our order and was mostly inattentive (bordering on hostile) to us for the remainder of the meal. Disappointing service at this meal, though it has been excellent everywhere else.

 

I won't bother re-reviewing dishes we had on Monday, but some thoughts on the new items:

 

Crab Cake - excellent, meaty, flavorful, with just a little kick to it

 

Black Pepper bacon - very good, but it's really just pork belly with some BBQ sauce on it; it didnt scream "bacon" to me

 

Caesar salad - yummy dressing and THE BEST croutons

 

Branzino - great flavor but the I prefer crispy skin on fish, this was not

 

Rack of Lamb - great

 

Truffle Fries - tasty fries but I could not taste/see any truffle on them 

After lunch, we decided to do Game of Thrones trivia at Music Hall...and we won! We are GoT aficionados, but some of the questions were quite tricky. We did not know them all. The prize was a set of RCI zipper pulls, which I thought was cute and practical.

 

After trivia, I returned to the casino and (amazingly) continued my winning streak on slots. I noticed this afternoon that they have begun installing plexiglass dividers between slot machines, thus enabling them all to be turned on. So far since we boarded, this has cropped up in 2 sections. I imagine they will expand it to the rest of the casino, so it can increase capacity. I tried one of the divided machines -  its a bit claustrophobic, but worth it to have the additional gambling options.

 

Then we went up for some drinks in the solarium.

 

We gambled a bit more in the evening before heading up early to the Royal Theater to get good seats for Showgirl. The show was excellent. High energy dancing and vocals, well choreographed - a real winner. Highly recommended.

 

After the show, we got in queue for our first ever meal in the main dining room. We waiting about 15-20 minutes to get a table, but it moved quickly. The place is MASSIVE and it is operating at 50% capacity, so there was plenty of room for everyone.

 

Service here was much more rushed and inattentive than what we experienced at the specialty restaurants, but that's the nature of the beast. The food was all fine, but definitely our least favorite meal of the cruise. We had:

 

Escargot - the best!

Shrimp Cocktail - excellent

Caesar Salad -  not mad at it

Pumpkin Soup - tasty

Calamari - fine

 

Beef tenderloin - Adequate

BBQ Chinese beef ribs - just OK

spicy seafood noodles - not spicy, lacking in depth, I left most of it on the plate

 

Carrot cake - great

Creme Brule - great

Grand Marnier Souflee - a pleasant, light flavor, but I like a dessert with a bit more punch

 

In the future, we'll probably try to do all specialty dining, if available. Perhaps we ordered the wrong items, but it was all a bit bland in the main dining room.

 

After dinner, my husband went back to the cabin to pack, and I headed back down to the casino, where I FINALLY achieved Prime tier for Club Royale. I also had a good run on Ultimate Texas Hold Em - hitting a straight flush.

 

Off to bed. Pics below.

Edited December 16, 2021 by agf1583

[agf1583]

Day 5

 

We woke up at 7:00, had breakfast at  Windjammer, and collected ourselves to disembark.

 

When I came back from breakfast, I had received a cruise certificate for Club Royale for USD500 towards my next cruise. Not the comp I was hoping for, but hopefully those offers will come later. I forgot to mention that I also received a cruise certificate on Tuesday (for USD250), though I doubt they can be combined.

 

Disembarkation was a snap. Down to deck 5, drop off your Tracee wristband, and tap your sea pass on the way out. There is a quick health declaration that you complete via mobile before disembarkation that gives you a green QR code to present at the health checkpoint. HK immigration also has an excellent e-channel for all residents so immigration is fast and easy.

 

I haven't mentioned it yet, but our cabin steward was excellent: friendly, efficient, and attentive. Lots of fun towel animals too, of course. I feel awful that I forget his name, but we left a nice additional tip in his envelope.

 

And thus concludes my trip report! Happy to answer any additional questions, if you have any.