Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 5 (Johnny Rockets and Fisher Price Toys)

Posted in Cruise, Holidays by jahbella

After our little ice-skating adventure, we decided that it was time to eat (AGAIN!) Yes, I think our helper wanted to faint from the frequency and size of our meals on the cruise. We didn’t head to the usual lunch spots like Main Dining Room and Windjammers for our lunches onboard so I will not be able to attest to the quality and menu there. However if like me, you have kids who can survive on fries alone and don’t mind a chocolate milkshake or ice-cream ;P then Johnny Rockets would be the place for them (and you). We went there for all our day meals and those meals were perfect for a nap after. At Johnny Rockets, you basically pay a flat fee of $5 per adult and get to order anything from their menu. Items on their menu include burgers, fries with different toppings and desserts. Beverages are charged separately but that didn’t stop us from purchasing their yummy milkshake. As Joel and I were on the drinks package, our beers and soft drinks were covered and our yummy milkshakes were 1 for 1, for Crown and Anchor Society members. Super duper yummy!!! Jah was also introduced to the smiley face ketchup at Johnny Rockets where they asked if he wanted ketchup and they would draw a smiley face on a plate with ketchup. He started asking for a smiley face at every meal after that (the staff always obliged :p). Thank goodness he hasn’t asked for it since we got back. Johnny Rockets is the perfect place for some casual American dining plus a little entertainment from the dancing staff. 🙂

Burgers are awesome!

Yes super awesome!

Performance!

Just around the corner from Johnny Rockets, you would also find the Babies Club for little ones from 6 months to 36 months. Babysitting services are offered there and we saw that some parents had avail themselves to this paid service. We, on the other hand visited the Club for an entirely different reason. The Club also offered a toy rental service for kids below 3 years of age. You are allowed to take ‘home’ to your cabin, 1 set of Fisher Price toys which you can either choose to keep for the entire length of your stay or return the next day and exchange for another set of toys. As these toys are available on a first come first serve basis, we would recommend you hop over early to select your toys. When we got there at 8pm on the first night, most toys were already taken up and we were very fortunate to have found something that Jah liked. We almost had a meltdown when he realized there were no more cars or train related sets. The Fisher Price toys were pretty fun and came in very handy in keeping the kids occupied in the room. Now if only our kids could be occupied with just one toy at home. Apparently kids understand the concept of making do and making the best of it. :p

Playtime!

I have to say that this toy rental service came in very handy for us during our first cruise trip with Jah and now even more so with two kids. No more lugging toys on holidays to keep them occupied! Although I will probably have to figure something else out once they both of them hit the 4 year old mark….

JahBella’s Mummy

8Feb2015

Penang Holiday (Oct 2014) – Yummy Food Outside of the Hotel!! Fishing Village Seafood, Nonya Breeze, Golden River Zi Char)

Posted in Eating Out with Kids, Holidays, penang by jahbella

So yes while we thought that the food at the Hard Rock Hotel Penang was pretty awesome, we did still head out for our food fix. No, travelling with two young kids was not going to prevent us from savouring the good food that Penang had to offer. We just had to think alittle more creatively and do alittle bit more research and planning. This meant no Gurney Drive Hawker Centre (although I would admit that we did try one evening but it was pouring!) and also meant that exploring the alleys and road side hawkers of Georgetown was out of the question. However I have to say we did really well and so if you are looking for something alittle more kid friendly (places where there are high chairs), something super yummy and authentic and something that won’t break the bank…Read on for our 3 recommended restaurants in Penang and we will let the photos do most of the talking…;)

Golden River Zi Char

Located in Batu Ferringhi and a 3 min taxi ride away from Hard Rock Hotel Penang. This zi char restaurant was not found on the main thoroughfare and we actually had to do abit of way-finding in the rain (walking over from our tailor) but we were well-rewarded with good homely zi char food.

Nonya Breeze

I did quite abit of research on this one..more so because I really wanted to try the Nonya food in Penang but most places were either really far out from where we were or were supposedly so good that you had to wait a long time for your food. Waiting is not really an option when you have kids who like to do things really ‘chop chop’ – yes I think they inherited that trait from me. :p So I kept Nonya Breeze on my ‘standby’ list of places to eat at if we were in the vicinity of Straits Quay Mall. I have to say that this place did not disappoint because Joel actually requested that we come back the next day for lunch. So please do not be shocked by all the photos, we ate there on 2 separate days!!!

Fishing Village Seafood

This place is really really rustic and you would need a driver to bring you in and preferably wait for you to finish. The drive was approximately 15 to 20 mins from Hard Rock Hotel Penang and in the other direction away from the city. So plan this for a night where you just intend to have dinner and head back because there is nothing much to see or do in that vicinity. The food though was worth it and we even indulged in some crabs which we don’t normally have when we eat with the kids. Portions are not huge so we managed to order quite a number of items and finished everything! (Note – there were only 3 adults and 2 little ones).

Rustic side of town

Everything feels so old school…down to the highchair

Jah took a walk with Joel and discovered the beach and a little jetty of sorts..

So the next time you are in Penang with the kids and lament that you can’t enjoy the Penang goodies with kids in tow, you know where to go…:)

JahBella’s Mummy

20Jan2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 3 (Dreamworks Breakfast Character Dining)

Posted in Cruise, Holidays by jahbella

Our non-stop eating adventure continued the next morning when we all woke up bright and early and was at breakfast at 8am. This was not just any ordinary breakfast! It was the Dreamworks Character Dining Breakfast which Jah had been looking forward to, for the past few months. I had envisioned that we would be eating in our PJs, given that the breakfast started at 8am but the kids had no problems getting up early and dressed for this special meal.

For families who would like to bring their kids for the Dreamworks Character Dining Breakfast, I would recommend that you sign up online prior to your cruise. Alternatively, you could do your booking once you board the cruise but I hear that it is rather popular. The breakfast is chargeable at $10 per person. Honestly the breakfast option looked good on paper with a specialized menu but the food left much to be desired. We didn’t quite touch it and I was alittle envious of the other tables in the main dining room who were having the regular breakfast. Although I suppose they were probably also envious of us and the time we had with the characters.

Dreamworks Character Dining Menu

Shrek Ears for all the kids 🙂

We met 3 of the Dreamworks Characters (Shrek, Kungfu Panda and Fiona) during our breakfast and they came around to each table to take photos with us. We were supposed to attend the breakfast on the following day as well but Jah decided that he didn’t want to attend if Alex the Lion was not attending. We were told that 3 other characters (Puss in Boots, King Julian and Gloria the Hippo) would be at the next day’s breakfast. On hindsight, we should have probably just attended for the fun of it but oh well Jah had his wish and met Alex at the separate Meet & Greet session so I decided not to put everyone through an early not so yummy breakfast again.

Oh and do note that the photos below were taken by their photographer and purchased as part of the photo package. The photos are not included as part of your breakfast cost. You can get the staff to help take pix with your camera/ handphone if you don’t intend to purchase the package. 🙂

So yes a must-do for parents with kids especially those who are fans of Shreak or Madagascar. 🙂

Next Up – Jah’s First Ice-Skating attempt and a Parenting lesson for me

JahBella’s Mummy

15Jan2015

Royal Caribbean – Mariner of the Seas – JahBella Part 2 (Giovanni’s Table)

Posted in Cruise, Food, Holidays by jahbella

While most meals onboard the cruise are free of charge and pretty decent, we decided to give one of the specialty restaurants a try. Our meal at Giovanni’s Table (Italian Speciality Restaurnt) would be JahBella’s First ‘Fine-Dining’ Experience. The meal cost us an additional US$20 per adult and we were allowed to order any item in any quantity off the menu. We could either order individual portions or dine family style. We chose to dine family style which meant that we could order a few starters, entrees and desserts and they would prepare portions which were just enough for our family. The kids also had their own special kids menu to choose from and non-alcoholic tiramisu to boot! 🙂

What I love about the dining service on the cruise is that they are always ready to accommodate and customize for the kids. Jah was somehow on his fries only diet and they were more than happy to prepare a special portion of handcut fries for him.

Happy as long as there is food

Hmm…do you think I will be able to get these special fries at every meal?

My photos really do not do the food justice but it was awesome! I especially enjoyed the lamb chops and risotto! I have not tasted such good risotto since….since I’m not quite sure when. I was very tempted to return the subsequent days just for another taste of the risotto.

At the end of the meal, there was also a extensive dessert table to select from and you can totally see Bella just eyeing the table very deviously. Again, I apologise for the photo quality as they were taken with my handphone in a romantically lit dining room. 😉

One thing to note, do buffer at least 2 hours for the entire meal. We initially thought that this was a bit of an exaggeration but the entire meal really took 2 hours! In fact we had to rush alittle towards the end as we wanted to make it for the Welcome Show at 730pm. All I can say is don’t rush and just enjoy the meal especially if your kids are doing ok and in no hurry to go anywhere. Ok totally missing the risotto now….;/

Next Up – Dreamworks Breakfast Character Dining….

JahBella’s Mummy

19Dec2014

Hard Rock Food – Room Service, Kings Club and Restaurants

Posted in Eating Out with Kids, Holidays, penang by jahbella

Penang is definitely the haven for good food and I am always complaining that there is just never enough days on our Penang trip to eat everything we want to eat. This is made even worse when your hotel also serves fantastic food!! Yes it is a torture to be spoilt for choice. :p

We started our trip on a really good note – awesome Italian food at the Hard Rock. We were rather tired by the time we arrived. After an hour long car ride and kids nearing their nap time, I was very worried that waiting for lunch would be a nightmare. However the food was served really quickly and the good service and bubbly staff were really infectious. You can tell from JahBella’s big smiles that they had forgotten about the long journey here already and a nice nap was awaiting for our full bellies.

We over ordered!!! The portions were huge even for the kids meal!

She doesn’t smile when waiting for her food anymore…:( She screams!

First of many mocktails during the trip

We had the standard buffet breakfast at their main restaurant during the first half of our stay (when we were staying in the Lil Rock Star Suite. Given that the hotel was on full occupancy, there seemed to always be seats available at the main restaurant. The variety of the buffet was also really good – from Asian (Hawker fare) to Cereals to Western to their own ‘pau’ section. Kids were also given their own cutlery which made the experience extremely kiddy friendly.

Appetizer?

During the second half of our stay, we enjoyed our breakfast at the Kings Club (when we were staying in the Rock Star Suite). The Kings Club breakfast offered a very limited buffet spread with the standard cereals, fruits, muffins and a small selection of hot food. The real star of the Kings Club breakfast is their ala carte buffet menu that you can order from. Having your food served to you is always welcomed when you have kids to take care of. We were so spoilt for choice and we had to stop ourselves from over ordering.

Its almost like he had breakfast in bed…

Hot breakfast served at your table

Breakfast Menu! Hungry yet?

Staying at the Rock Star Suite also allowed us access to the Kings Club to enjoy teatime snacks and evening cocktail. We were there for a quick evening cocktail before heading out for dinner and Jah was extremely happy with the chocolate tarts and mocktails. 😉

Want to share? 😀

While room service is often a last resort, Hard Rock’s Room service is one of the best I’ve had. The kids were too tired after their morning swim to head anywhere so we settled for room service and discovered a gem! Jah loved his Fish & Chips while we were very very pleased with their Nasi Goreng. We were not expected much but found their Asian fare to be pretty authentic. We also tried their lamb with pea mash and I can tell you that I have never tasted such a good pie before. The room service meals were so good that we actually had it for two days.

So if you are concerned about what to eat in Penang (hmmmm..) especially if your kids might be too tired to head out or if like me, you had a little one with a fever on the last 2 days. Then Hard Rock is the perfect place to base yourself out of and enjoy their wonderful yummy treats.

Next Up – Yummy Food Outside of the Hotel!!!! (Fishing Village Seafood, Nonya Breeze, Golden River Zi Char)

JahBella’s Mummy