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Glad we went the week before all this!

 

Seriously though, there are some complaints online that the ship shouldn't have powered through to get back to Port Canaveral on Saturday. Many other ships delayed and did not sail through the tail end of the storm, while the Fantasy did.

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Glad we went the week before all this!

 

Seriously though, there are some complaints online that the ship shouldn't have powered through to get back to Port Canaveral on Saturday. Many other ships delayed and did not sail through the tail end of the storm, while the Fantasy did.

 

I am surprised that they still went on despite others deciding not to sail. You would have thought they would have learned from previous cruise lines!

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Hey cruise fans! We were on the gigantic Navigator of the Seas last week in the Mediterranean and I'm getting around to re-sizing the pics and uploading the videos. Let's start with the food!

 

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This salad was good, but I don't know if it was better than normal sex.

 

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This was called Pasta Coglioni, or something very similar. Vegetarian and good!

 

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Markus had some kind of meat something. He said it was great.

 

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Dessert #1

 

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Dessert #2

 

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Dessert #3

 

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The dining room was so elegant and amazing.

 

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We also ate at Portofino. This was my appetizer. Vegetarian goodness!

 

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Meaty appetizer.

 

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Our main course was brought to the table on this elegant wagon. That's my pasta and Markus ordered a bunch of dead fish stuff which was all grilled on a stick and then put on his plate at the table.

 

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Pasta with pesto. Not bad at all!

 

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This was the tiramisu, which came with a mini shot of Baileys and Kahlua.

 

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Because I can never decide, I just ordered this sampler plate of 4 different deserts. They were all great except for the blob of creamy white jello, or whatever that was.

 

Round two coming soon...

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...here we go!

 

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The chefs in the kitchen at Portofino were very entertaining when I asked if I get take a picture.

 

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Some of the lunch time buffet goodies in the Windjammer.

 

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These were the "healthy" desserts.

 

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Mmmmm, curry.

 

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The "real" desserts.

 

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The next few pics are breakfast in the Windjammer Buffet.

 

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Bacon, anyone?

 

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Or perhaps some cereal?

 

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During the whole week, we ate one meal on-land. We found a totally quaint restaurant off the beaten path in Chania, Greece. It was so romantic and picturesque that it almost seemed "themed".

 

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There was this wall with running water pouring out of clay pots on different levels which separated the dining area from the "side-walk" area.

 

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I had olives, Saginaki, (fried cheese), and this potato garlic spread with a hidden Mickey pepper on top. Markus had...

 

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...THIS!

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Is the quality of Portofino so much higher than the normal dining room that is justifies the upcharge cost?

 

Joey, that is debatable. We also talked about it and my opinion is this: since the "normal" food is already so good, the only reason(s) to really go to Portofino are if you are looking for a special evening or if money is not an option. What you pay for, basically, is the atmosphere. It is much quieter inside. You get to sit with just your party at a small table of 2 or 4 instead of huge tables with lots of strangers. There aren't waiters coming to the table every fricken 10 seconds to offer you bread or more water or another napkin or show you a magic trick, like in the main dining room, so you can actually have a conversation without being constantly interrupted. (We found that really annoying this time in the main dining room!). We got "comped" into Portofino this time and, although I really have no complaints, I just don't see any reason to pay to go again, (unless we were celebrating something special).

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Wow that foods looks fantastic, I'm starting to think that I really got screwed on my only RCCL cruise because the food on that ship was pathetic. It was only a 3 day voyage on one of their oldest ships but it was seriously awful, not a single thing we ate on the trip came close to anything pictured in your report.

 

I really need to do a longer cruise.

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Joey, that is debatable. We also talked about it and my opinion is this: since the "normal" food is already so good, the only reason(s) to really go to Portofino are if you are looking for a special evening or if money is not an option. What you pay for, basically, is the atmosphere. It is much quieter inside. You get to sit with just your party at a small table of 2 or 4 instead of huge tables with lots of strangers. There aren't waiters coming to the table every fricken 10 seconds to offer you bread or more water or another napkin or show you a magic trick, like in the main dining room, so you can actually have a conversation without being constantly interrupted. (We found that really annoying this time in the main dining room!). We got "comped" into Portofino this time and, although I really have no complaints, I just don't see any reason to pay to go again, (unless we were celebrating something special).

 

I think Portofino is worth the modest upcharge. And the charge is modest considering you might pay as much for a box of cold medicine in the gift shop. The food is better since the chefs don't have to cook for so many people. But, like you say, the main reason to go to Portofino is to escape the circus of the main dining room.

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Wow, I just spent the last couple of days reading this entire thread. Some really great info and tips. My wife and I just finished our first cruise a few weeks ago and we are officially hooked. We did a 7 day western Mediterranean cruise on the Liberty of the Seas. The ship was amazing, the shows were great, and the food was very good. We really do not have anything to complain about.

 

We loved cruising so much that we've already booked our next cruise for June 2013. We're doing a 7 day cruise on the Celebrity Century to Alaska. We were limited on the cruise lines we can take because someone who will be traveling with us was banned from all Carnival cruises (after reading this thread, that's a great thing) and the Norwegian freestyle cruising didn't appeal to us. Has anyone cruised on the Century? We're a little worried because of the ship's age.

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^I sailed on the Celebrity Mercury which was similar in age and size as the Century.

 

I mean, I'll be honest, going from Liberty of the Seas to the Century is going to be quite the shock. It's half the size, and more 'old school'. Also, cruises to Alaska skew much older so don't expect too much to do geared to the under 50 crowd.

 

Not trying to bum you out or dissuade you. Alaska is beautiful and great to go to by Cruise, it's just very different.

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Wow, I just spent the last couple of days reading this entire thread. Some really great info and tips. My wife and I just finished our first cruise a few weeks ago and we are officially hooked. We did a 7 day western Mediterranean cruise on the Liberty of the Seas. The ship was amazing, the shows were great, and the food was very good. We really do not have anything to complain about.

 

We loved cruising so much that we've already booked our next cruise for June 2013. We're doing a 7 day cruise on the Celebrity Century to Alaska. We were limited on the cruise lines we can take because someone who will be traveling with us was banned from all Carnival cruises (after reading this thread, that's a great thing) and the Norwegian freestyle cruising didn't appeal to us. Has anyone cruised on the Century? We're a little worried because of the ship's age.

 

Can I ask why they were banned?!? Surely there's an epic story there!

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And I'm back with two videos from the cruise. The first one is a tour of our cabin:

 

 

and this is a tour of (most of the) ship itself:

 

 

I apologize in advance to the monitors if I edit this post a million times, but somehow I always pick the wrong way to imbed a video!

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A word about which cabin to book. I have now been on 3 different RCL ships and been in 3 different cabin classes. Inside (Mariner), Porthole (Monarch), and Balcony (Navigator). After experiencing all 3 I can tell you this: if you can afford a balcony, DO IT! Otherwise, just stay in an inside cabin and save the money! Paying extra $$$ for a tiny little window to the outside world is just not worth it. I mean, you can't even open it, and most of the time that you spend in the cabin is at night, so it is dark outside and you can't see a single thing through it anyways!

 

What do other experienced cruisers think about inside vs porthole vs balcony?

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A word about which cabin to book. I have now been on 3 different RCL ships and been in 3 different cabin classes. Inside (Mariner), Porthole (Monarch), and Balcony (Navigator). After experiencing all 3 I can tell you this: if you can afford a balcony, DO IT! Otherwise, just stay in an inside cabin and save the money! Paying extra $$$ for a tiny little window to the outside world is just not worth it. I mean, you can't even open it, and most of the time that you spend in the cabin is at night, so it is dark outside and you can't see a single thing through it anyways!

 

What do other experienced cruisers think about inside vs porthole vs balcony?

 

Done only 1 cruise in a balcony but i agree totally with your reasoning. If you are not getting the balcony just the little window seems like too much of a tease. I so enjoyed just sitting in the balcony with my feet up and nothing to do. Probably one of the best parts of a cruise.

 

Scratch everything i said if anyone cruise will be on the Fantasy. After seeing R&E's TR, if i ever go on a Disney i might skip the balcony to check that magic porthole out.

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We were limited on the cruise lines we can take because someone who will be traveling with us was banned from all Carnival cruises (after reading this thread, that's a great thing)

 

Okay, you can't just tease us like that. You gotta share the rest of that story!

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Hey cruise fans! We were on the gigantic Navigator of the Seas last week in the Mediterranean and I'm getting around to re-sizing the pics and uploading the videos. Let's start with the food!

 

Morgan thanks for posting the photos! Everything looks great! After a bunch of crazy weeks from our commitment ceremony, we are now back to fully focusing on our Celebrity Eastern Med. honeymoon cruise on the Equinox in less than 2 weeks! This is our first time on Celebrity, we realize it is an older crowd, but hopefully not as old as HA or Princess. From what we can tell the Equinox looks to be pretty sleek. And Morgan - thanks again for making the travel videos, we still watch and study those! I know they will be a big help when we are in our Med. ports. Can't wait to see more photos of your trip! Quick question, the weather looks nice, what were the temps like in the Med.?

Edited by live2tell75
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A word about which cabin to book. I have now been on 3 different RCL ships and been in 3 different cabin classes. Inside (Mariner), Porthole (Monarch), and Balcony (Navigator). After experiencing all 3 I can tell you this: if you can afford a balcony, DO IT! Otherwise, just stay in an inside cabin and save the money! Paying extra $$$ for a tiny little window to the outside world is just not worth it. I mean, you can't even open it, and most of the time that you spend in the cabin is at night, so it is dark outside and you can't see a single thing through it anyways!

 

What do other experienced cruisers think about inside vs porthole vs balcony?

 

 

Agreed. Dan and I actually had a balcony right in the middle of the ship that poked out so you could see both ways on Mariner of the Seas (sister to Navigator). It was awesome to have the extra space to relax and enjoy the views.

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I'm not a 'normal' balcony person. I would rather just take an in inside or one of the crazy options that Royal Caribbean has.

 

For example, I would put the following types of rooms above 'normal oceanview balcony':

 

- Promenade Window

- Central Park Balcony

- Boardwalk Balcony

- Crazy Suite Balcony

 

I don't think I would ever pay the money for just a 'normal' balcony.

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