I just finished listening to the Enormously Large Ships of the Seas podcast and I have to comment.
My girlfriend is an avid cruiser, and I have been on the Costa Atlantica, the Oasis (last June), and the Emerald Princess with her over the last year, and we just got back from a transatlantic on the Celebrity Equinox.
Since my girlfriend lives only twenty minutes from Port Everglades, the only way we would ever do a
Disney cruise over another line is if we did a back-to-back driving up to the World for a few days then taking a cruise out of Port Canaveral.
When the infamous "Stroganoff" was mentioned, I knew I had to comment. I was very surprised to hear that it was still being served. One night on our cruise last June, we took the "recommendation" to try it. So did a few other diners in our little area of couples near one of the walls. We were expecting broad noodles, mushrooms, beef, and a cream sauce. What we got was bits of beef, peppers, the pickles, over RICE! Not only did we all order something else, when the maître d' did his rounds, I told him that to Americans, Beef Stroganoff was something totally different to what we were served, and that they should just take it off the menu because people will have the same reaction every time.
I even mentioned it on the comment card, and on my review on both the CruiseCritic.com site and the boards over there.
I am sad to say that it looks like they really are dumbing down the main dining room food to drum up business for the specialty restaurants.
Quick comments about the cruise in general:
Our beverage guy was absolutely terrible. After we spoke to the maître d'. it improved. A little.
We ate in the steak restaurant and really liked it.
I really liked sitting in the moving bar while drinking Jack on the rocks as it went from Deck 5 to Deck 8 and back down again.
They went all out with their 70's Party on the Deck 5 Promenade.
The little roast beef sandwiches at the café are as good as they are cracked up to be.
The entertainment was good. We usually don't expect much from the entertainment, but were pleasantly surprised.
We won a couples spa thing (Rasul) at an art auction. I really enjoyed it; she didn't. I would definitely do it again if I could talk her into it.
There is more than enough for adults to do on the Oasis and Allure!
I don't think we will ever sail on an Oasis class ship again. We like the feeling of actually being at sea, and you had to go topside on the Oasis to get that feeling. I doubt we may ever do Royal Carribean again (we are already booked for the same transatlantic crossing on the Celebrity Equinox, same date, even the same stateroom next year!).
I would like to try a Disney ship (and Carnival too, but that won't happen). Now all I have to do is convince my girlfriend to sail on a ship with no casino and with a lot of kids on it. Any suggestions on how to convince her?
