First time cruisers ensured to be "Allured"?? -April 2019 TR

[pattyw]

Izumi is small- they have a room for the hibachi experience and then a separate area for the a la carte menu. Unlike Giovanni's and Chops Grille, the menu at Izumi had prices. The others were a set price/person. Joe ordered wonton soup and crispy shrimp sushi. I had pork dumplings and crab sushi. Our drinks were included with our drink package. Our bill was $40 plus $7.20 service charge. I thought that was expensive compared to our other meals.

We ate at Sabor later and it was a flat $20/person for as much as we wanted to order. We had chips, salsa, homemade guacamole for appetizers. Then we had 2 entrees with rice side dishes and then we split dessert. Our bill was also $40 plus $7.20 service charge.

While we enjoyed Izumi, we liked Sabor much better- in food quality & quantity, service, and price!! We wished we would have tried Sabor earlier in the cruise. It was fantastic!! It's located on the Boardwalk area so it's under cover but open air. It's casual and fun!

 

[starvenger]

I find Izumi's prices to be decent but to be honest there's so many Japanese restaurants in the Toronto area (good, bad, and eat-all-you-can) that I've not really been tempted to go. I know they have a sushi making lesson (for a fee, of course) so I might sign my daughter up for it next cruise.

 

[pattyw]

We had one more order of business to take care of before our cruise ended. We wanted to check out the photos that were taken and purchase some. They give you the location of your photos on your Sea Pass card so you can go to the photo store during your cruise and look at the pictures taken. The entire package was expensive and we didn't like many of them. We found 10 we did like so we purchased the digital package only. It was $149.99 for the 10 photos. We didn't purchase any other RCL souvenirs, so we decided the photos were a great memento of our 1st cruise!!

I posted a few of the photos previously. Here are a couple others.

One from dinner in the main dining room- Night !:




One from a formal night:



A casual photo:



One thing I learned about photos:

Pick out outfits that match each other if you are interested in purchasing professional photos on the ship!

I didn't consider this when packing our clothes for the trip. Next time, I will make sure to include outfits that match or complement each other better than we did for this cruise. The photos would have been much better if we did! I say this every time I look at these pictures! Oh well- lesson learned!

 

[pattyw]

After visiting both Izumi and Sabor we were STUFFED!!!

We had to go back to our cabin and finish packing and have our suitcases outside of our room by 11pm!! We kept our carryons and an overnight bag for our toiletries and clothes for the next day.

Then, we headed out for a last dose of the entertainment! We stopped at Schooner's piano bar for a bit, then a last stop to "donate" more at the casino!!

We returned to our room by about 1:00 am!! Being Key members, we didn't have to disembark early. We could have breakfast at The Grande until 9:00 am and then leave the ship whenever we wanted.

We reflected for a moment on how quickly the days passed on the ship and just how enjoyable it was!!

 

[pattyw]

I find Izumi's prices to be decent but to be honest there's so many Japanese restaurants in the Toronto area (good, bad, and eat-all-you-can) that I've not really been tempted to go. I know they have a sushi making lesson (for a fee, of course) so I might sign my daughter up for it next cruise.

Yes- I saw the sushi making class! Sounds like fun!!

I think that's what amazed us about a cruise- so much entertainment and so many activities- ALL day EVERY day!! It's truly a theme park on water!

 

[mevelandry]

We had one more order of business to take care of before our cruise ended. We wanted to check out the photos that were taken and purchase some. They give you the location of your photos on your Sea Pass card so you can go to the photo store during your cruise and look at the pictures taken. The entire package was expensive and we didn't like many of them. We found 10 we did like so we purchased the digital package only. It was $149.99 for the 10 photos. We didn't purchase any other RCL souvenirs, so we decided the photos were a great memento of our 1st cruise!!

I posted a few of the photos previously. Here are a couple others.

One from dinner in the main dining room- Night !:


View attachment 401266

One from a formal night:

View attachment 401267

A casual photo:

View attachment 401268

One thing I learned about photos:

Pick out outfits that match each other if you are interested in purchasing professional photos on the ship!

I didn't consider this when packing our clothes for the trip. Next time, I will make sure to include outfits that match or complement each other better than we did for this cruise. The photos would have been much better if we did! I say this every time I look at these pictures! Oh well- lesson learned!

You look great. I did not even pay attention to the clothes to be honest.

 

[Monykalyn]

Great report! So many dining options-can see why the 1/2 price dining package would be good!

 

[Lori74]

i wish they offered a class with a mixture of wine and hard liquor, my husband likes wine and i like the hard stuff. but it would be expensive and wasteful for us to both go together for each. i do understand this would be difficult for them to combine. just a wish though

 

[starvenger]

I don't remember if they were stricter with the drinking classes, but I've seen reports where people that hadn't paid could "observe" the sushi making class. No word on whether "assisting" with the eating was allowed.

 

[Spencer Wright]

.....
The seminar was given by the ship's head sommelier. He was very informative and taught us a lot about wine! We learned the importance of picking up your glass by the stem and swirling it in your glass before tasting! There was, indeed, a big difference in the taste of the wine if you sipped it before swirling it and after! There was a much bolder flavor after swirling it around!

The seminar was about an hour. We had booked it pre-cruise. We both enjoyed it and would highly recommend it!

I'll have to try this class! I was with my sister on a cruise (she doesn't drink) so I didn't go, but this seems like a lot of fun with other people.

I drink lots of wine but don't appreciate the taste or anything so this seems like a great way to learn quite a few things!

 

[pattyw]

You look great. I did not even pay attention to the clothes to be honest.

Thanks!

 

[pattyw]

Great report! So many dining options-can see why the 1/2 price dining package would be good!

Thanks! It's tempting to purchase the extras ahead of time for planning purposes, but we learned that you can strike a better deal on the ship! Not sure all cruise lines work this way though.

 

[pattyw]

i wish they offered a class with a mixture of wine and hard liquor, my husband likes wine and i like the hard stuff. but it would be expensive and wasteful for us to both go together for each. i do understand this would be difficult for them to combine. just a wish though

I think that's a great idea! We've been to wineries that also make hard liquor and they do let you taste those varieties as well. They offer many different choices of the hard liquor on board, too!

I believe they did have rum & tequila tastings a few times on the promenade!

 

[pattyw]

I don't remember if they were stricter with the drinking classes, but I've seen reports where people that hadn't paid could "observe" the sushi making class. No word on whether "assisting" with the eating was allowed.

With the wine seminar, they checked you into the dining room and seated you so it was only those that paid for it at the tables.

Is the sushi class somewhere in the open to allow for the viewing? Doesn't seem fair to allow some to observe while others paid.

 

[pattyw]

I'll have to try this class! I was with my sister on a cruise (she doesn't drink) so I didn't go, but this seems like a lot of fun with other people.

I drink lots of wine but don't appreciate the taste or anything so this seems like a great way to learn quite a few things!

It was a great seminar! Joe and I love wine, and we've been to many wineries and have done tours and tastings. The wineries tend to focus on the wine making. Here, the sommelier focused on the methods of tasting- very interesting!!

 

[pattyw]

On debarkation morning, we were ready and at the Grande dining room by 8:30. The Key breakfast was served until 9:00am. This dining room was reserved for Key guests. It wasn't very crowded. We had an a la carte menu to order from- they had many great choices! We had a leisurely breakfast and headed off the boat by about 10:15.

It was Easter Sunday and the staff we saw had bunny ears on for the holiday. They were ready to welcome the next set of cruisers on board! We went to the Key area to get the rest of our luggage. Porters were there to assist you, if needed. We did have someone load up all of our bags and he took them to an area outside where we could wait for our son. Customs was very fast! They just quickly looked at our passports and waved us by.

Outside, it was pretty chaotic with all the people waiting for their rides! Luckily, our son found us fairly quick and we were on our way!

Wow! What a great trip!!

 

[pattyw]

Our flight home wasn't until later that evening. Our other son flew down for the weekend as well, so we were planning on having Easter brunch together! We chose to go to Shooters Waterfront in Ft. Lauderdale. It's a very pretty setting right on the water. They have indoor as well as a lot of outdoor seating. We were seated outside and could watch the boats(yachts!) going by! Lovely!











So nice to spend the holiday with our family!! and in such a lovely setting!



We had a great brunch, spent some time with our son, Kyle and his fiancee Erin, and then Joe, our son Troy, and I headed off to the airport! Time to go back to reality- we were headed home to chilly Buffalo, NY!! Brr!!

 

[pattyw]

Some final thoughts:

We absolutely LOVED our first cruise! A heartfelt thank you to all on this forum who helped as I planned this trip. I learned so many helpful tips here that made our cruise better!! Official websites are nice, but first hand knowledge is so much better!

We were so relieved that our fears about cruising were false! We didn't get seasick, bored, or panicky about being on board a ship in the middle of the ocean!!

We enjoyed it so much that I've been researching other cruises- and cruise lines! We'd like to do another RCL cruise- I'd like maybe a shorter cruise and one that stops at Coco Cay! and I'm also looking at Carnival cruises, too!!

Thank you for reading along!!

 

[savage1117]

Great report! I will miss your updates

 

[pattyw]

Great report! I will miss your updates

Thank you so much for reading along!!