28/7 Royal Caribbean

Saturday 28^th ROYAL Caribbean

We pottered around the hostel then Michele drove us in about 10.30. He was in much more expansive mode today. As before, we positively rocketed through the registration process and were even ushered through the Gold Card holders gate. They put Expert Cruiser stickers on our chests.

We were too early for the buffet which opened at 11.30 and what a spread it was! Costa was very Mediterranean and very basic (particularly the desserts) and here there was real food prepared by chefs. The paella was delicioso, as was the risotto and there was a much greater variety of dishes. The drinks were pre-poured in Large classes, complete with crushed ice. And just looking at the desserts was enough to get your juices running.

We pottered round the library and the Lotus Lounge – all delightfully decorated. And the Royal Promenade!!!!!! Utterly amazing. It runs down the centre of the ship for over 100m, has a transparent roof, is lined with beautifully done out shops and restaurants and pubs. The English pub is brilliant and the wine bar (complete with Penfolds) is dim and lined with cabinets of exotic wines and brandies.

Royal Arcade

Lift well with bi planes

Lotus Lounge

Completing the small city feeling, there are 4 stories of cabins with windows looking over the streetscape. And guess WHO has one???!!! We are up on the 3^rd level and the view down along the promenade is unspeakably good. The window is about 6 feet square, which is much bigger than we expected. The only issue is that you need to be selective about when you open your curtains! We got to get into the room a few minutes after 1pm and the interior is very comfortable – very large bed, desk, 2 couches (TV fridge etc etc). Just a little under-equipped with cupboards and hanging space.

We were very happy to see Queen Victoria moored across the harbour from us – the Cunard boat that had been the first leg of our Gap Year.

We undertook the spa tour to get tickets for the prize draw and then spent an hour in the gym, which is huge and extremely well equipped. The first ticket out of the hat for the 20 minute head and foot massage was . . . . yes . . . I am beginning to realise that all this cruising business is just a ruse to accommodate her appetite for having strange men rubbing oil all over her.

We did a bit more on the machines and I stretched out. The boat drill entailed going out on deck but only took 15 minutes. It was only 30 minutes to dinner but we were both dehydrated so we went into the very crowded 24 hour snack bar in the promenade. They had a tasty selection of cakes biscuits and sandwiches plus other stuff that we really didn’t notice. No watery drinks so we settled for tea and coffee. The latter was labelled “we serve the best coffee in Seattle”. Yeah? So what? It was very bitter and 2 spoons of sugar was very inadequate.

There was momentary confusion in the restaurant because we gave our room number rather than the table number. Luckily they were very close anyway. We were sharing a table for 10 with 2 young Americans from New York. I said I was disappointed that they didn’t sound like George Costanza and it turns out that they love Seinfeld. So we had a few good laughs about The Competition and Vandalay Industries and Kramer’s golf ball.

The dinner menu was good – pity the food wasn’t! Having recently reviewed our blog from April we recalled that the other Royal Caribbean boat tended to serve up “medium” steaks running with blood and that some of them were riddled with gristle. My Angus beef sirloin was a strange purple colour inside, but not running. I managed to get a few cuts around the outside but the main part of the steak seemed to have a sheet of stringy gristle running right through the middle. I sent it back and ordered a vegetarian curry instead.  (J’s fish was lovely)

The waiter, rather like our room steward, talks a big game and is over-attentive for our taste but the food let him down. The young chap had a very similar piece of sirloin and his wife received 2 fist-sized lumps of pork which (not surprisingly) were almost rock hard as well. How did they ever expect to cook that so it would be tender enough to eat, other than by very slow cooking?

We went into the production show, which started with some routine singy and dancy stuff, before they brought on a “comedic juggler”. The only thing he juggled was his hat but he wasn’t bad and thank heaven didn’t speak at all so we were spared the six-times translations.  We were quite happy to leave before the end so as to catch the music quiz.

We were half expecting to see Dieter but J spotted the quizmistress instead –Lauren from Pretoria. We had had her for 4 days in the Bahamas in April. I didn’t remember her at all but she remembered J who had helped her out when some drunken bum was carrying on in a quiz (and it WASN’T me). We didn’t do very well but we enjoyed ourselves and we did get the two songs that the other bunch with 13/15 got wrong.

Round about that time, J noticed a large island close to our starboard side. It turned out to be Giglia . . . home to the Costa Concordia since January when the captain ran it aground. It was too dark to see it but J said she thought she saw a dark square shape.

An American woman dropped in on us towards the end and started chatting with J. It was a bit like her German friend from the cruise in Norway except that she spoke English and there wasn’t quite so much kissing and cuddling. We sat on for another hour while the piano man started up (from Melbourne). We assumed he was gay but he spoke of a girlfriend (there again Richard and Dave each referred to the other as “my husband”). He asked for requests and obliged with I Still Call Australia Home.

We were beginning to flag by 11pm but stayed up for the Pirate Parade (aaaaaaarrrrrr). J and friend watched from an alcove off the Royal Promenade, while I retired and looked down from our window.