Oasis of the Seas - Day 4 - Sea Day (Part 2)

After relaxing in the cabin for a little while we took the time to peruse the printed menus Smitha had prepared for us. Thank you again for the cruiser who posted that tip online. We decided on having lunch at Chops Grille since they were only open on sea days and I wanted to try their Dry Aged Steak Burger. Fred was working there as the host for lunch as well and immediately recognized us. We took a moment to use their phone at the podium to call Smitha and tell her where we were dining per her request. We were seated quickly and Fred even remembered our "allergies" even if he switched whose was whose at first.

We asked about being able to eat quickly since our next round of Progressive trivia started at 1:30PM and the wait staff was great about keeping things moved along. My burger looked a bit undercooked (they never asked how we wanted it) but I didn't want to cause a delay so I ate it anyway. It was so big that I had to cut mine up and eat it with a knife and fork.

When we asked for fries, the waiter wanted to make sure we understood that they were really just cut up potato slices and not true "fries." Same fry concept but I think these are sold in stores here in the US as wedge fries. Still tasted like yummy fries.

I'm not much of a fan at being stopped to chat while dining as I feel like it's weird and rude to try and eat while they are talking to you. But soon after getting our food, we were greeted by what turned out to be actually the Restaurant Operations Manager, Pawan Sah (according to his business card). He again asked us to relay our experience the previous night at 150 Central Park. His response to our retelling was similar to the manager we talked to last night who simply kept apologizing and asked where we'd be dining tonight. We didn't much pick up on how the service level seemed to have increased tenfold for us during this lunch since we expected another great meal at Chops. It didn't dawn on us until our attentive waiter stepped away to get us ketchup and we must have had 6 other staff members offer to get us ketchup in the time it took our waiter to come back just a couple minutes later.

Near the end of our meal, Smitha stopped in to check on us and I asked her to arrange some sushi for us to enjoy during the aqua theater show tonight. Thanks again for that tip! It was a great way to try the sushi from Izumi without having to dine alone in the restaurant.

After a decent showing at our second round of Progressive trivia, Dad wanted to return to Cups & Scoops. This time Dad went with his favorite waffle cone and I branched out to the cookies and cream flavor (Yes I'm a rebel like that). Just like on the Regal Princess last year where they have a gelato counter, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach and I ordered more ice cream than I could stand to eat. I don't usually eat ice cream here at home so when I get it on cruises I lose my desire for it after a couple bites.

With time to kill, we wandered the ship seeking out the things we hadn't yet visited. Finally got to see Park Café and wished we'd thought to eat here during the day once. Proof that RCL has chocolate milk so your kids and my 71 year old father will be happy.

 










Happy to also report that the suite sun deck wasn't super crowded and didn't seem to have anyone up there that wasn't a suite passenger. I'd read some reports that some younger suite guests were inviting their new friends up and other reports that the gate you need your card to unlock wasn't fully latching closed. It was super windy up that high though so it felt like walking through a wind tunnel. Tried to visit the "secret deck" on Deck 14 but it was closed for weather. Stopped off to inquire at the Crown & Anchor loyalty desk as to why I didn't get a Platinum pin while Dad did but the rep was busy chatting with another couple. 

A favorite trivia of mine on any ship is when they have country music trivia. Teamed up with some new friends - one of which contributed to the trivia by playing air guitar as she desperately tried to think of the song title. It became a running joke whenever we saw each other again at future trivia sessions. While waiting for trivia to start, Dad ordered his favorite drink - a Brandy Alexander. He'd tried one the previous day and didn't like it since it came with ice. He chatted up the bartender at the Schooner Bar and the bartender was shocked that he'd been given a Brandy Alexander with ice in it. This one was made the way he likes it but he found it to be overloaded with alcohol. The trend of being served super strong drinks continued.

We considered attending the Where in the World Am I Clue trivia but opted instead to return to the cabin to relax until our dinner reservation at Izumi. One common thing we've experienced from not only our cruises but reading other reviews is that the go to response to any complaint on board is they send you chocolate covered strawberries. We had a good chuckle when we returned to our cabin this afternoon and found a new addition to our afternoon snack delivery: 

Can't say whether it was an apology gift or just a changeup to our afternoon snack variety but those are the only macaroons we saw all week. Never got those colorful boxes of rainbow macaroons you see in all the promo videos. Now I'm sure if we'd asked they would have happily scrounged some up. We never ate these macaroons anyway. The squares on the bottom looked like a cross between a rice krispies treat and peanut brittle. The small molded chocolates in the 2nd row were good. I only tried one and am happy to report that they didn't have anything inside them.

Up next, the dinner and a show that is Izumi Hibachi and the actual show.