No vlog to share, but we are platinum cruisers. We did the 4 night Liverpool, 23 July staycation, and can give you my general thoughts. This was cruise no. 18, spread across all 4 ships.
I’ll start with some caveats, we are a 2 person adults only party, we generally no longer bother with formal/character photos, and tend not to stay up too late.
overall, we felt the entire experience was not that different to normal, for us. We liked that the ship felt quiet, sitting on verandah was the quietest I’ve ever experienced (it appears Brits tend to go for sun loungers on top decks). I liked seeing characters all around the ship so much, they seemed to go everywhere and even stopped in quiet cove to wave and interact (at a distance of course). I was impressed how the kids seemed to accept they couldn’t rush up and hug the characters like they would normally.
top decks were busy at peak hours (I.e. when sun was out) but even in adult areas you didn’t seem to have to wait long if at all for hot tub, and adult pool was generally only a couple of people in. Probably busiest I’ve seen top deck, even compared to Bahamas, Caribbean etc. Probably the cultural Brits making the most of what little sun we get.
I saw very few people not wearing masks indoors, and a reasonable number wore them walking around outside too (maybe 20-25% of those I saw walking outside).
MDR food was basically identical to normal, service was impeccable as ever. Cabanas was not as good as normal because of lack of variety. Food quality was normal. The repeats of stations in cabanas was necessary, but limited selection of options. I would say food in cabanas was slightly more tailored to uk audience compared to normal and compared to mdr.
we never had to wait in a line of more than one person to get drinks or food served for us anywhere on ship.
Palo - we did brunch and dinner (And have always done so)
Brunch - in many ways the new style is better, more relaxed, as feels less busy having to fight way round the small buffet area. I preferred the puddings as they were full portions and better desserts. I was never a fan of the tiny desserts on the buffet, and always had sticky buns for dessert.no sticky buns now But new desserts more than offset that for me. You’re still able to order multiple dishes. the antipasti plates are good, but not as varied as the old buffet. We missed the larger selection of cheese in particular from old buffet. Overall, still good value and a great meal.
Dinner - we did the new a la carte menu. It cost us about $25-30 more than normal, which isn’t horrendous. We had appetiser each, shared a pasta (which they plated on 2 separate plates), shared the new 28oz porterhouse steak, had 3 sides, soufflé each and a scoop of gelato. As ever I had to roll out. i rather liked the new food offerings, and having a choice of sides and more sauces for the steak was great. overall, I think the changes are good, and our server confirmed the steak options were being tested ahead of Palo steakhouse on the wish.
I honestly didn’t mind the mask wearing, as the only times it felt extended was in theatres, where you can’t have food and drink. The rest of the time it’s more about transitioning from place to place on the ship.
worst part for me was crew all wearing masks, as you couldn’t always understand what was being said properly (I misheard someone say nub nub - which was on my ewok shirt, as knock knock - and so answered who’s there - totally mortifying) and more importantly you can’t see their smiling faces.
every cast member we spoke to was super happy to be back sailing with guests.
overall, I am so glad we did the cruise and are doing another one at the end of the uk staycation season, to get our
dcl fix.