TequilaToo

Looks like those nice "secret balconies" we were looking forward to finding this time around are going away...http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=6020

For what it's worth, here is a part of the reply I received from C&A (after a week-long wait) regarding the availability of an "alternative menu" in the complimentary restaurants:

 

We are pleased to inform you that the four main complimentary restaurants will have a basic menu, consisting of a simple beef, poultry, seafood and vegetarian option. Please see below for each menu:

 

American Icon Grill:

-Pan Roasted Salmon

Red Beans & Rice

-Fettuccini

Sautéed Chicken, Olive Oil & Lemon

-Grilled Rib Eye Steak

Cottage Fries & Chanterelle Mushrooms

-Oven Roasted Chicken

Root Vegetable Mash, Steamed Green Beans

 

Chic:

-Grilled Beef Ribeye

Sauteed Spinach & Baby Carrots

-Smoked Cheese Ravioli

Champagne Beurre Blanc

-Chicken Paillard

Arugula & Teardrop Tomato Salad

-Oven Roasted Icelandic Cod

Poached Asparagus, Roasted Corn

 

Silk:

-Oven Roasted Salmon

Steamed Bok Choy, Wild Rice

-Lo-Mein Noodles

Wok Seared Vegetables

-Grilled Chicken Breast

Jasmine Rice, Sautéed Snow Peas

-Hibachi Steak

Mashed Potatoes & Stir Fried Vegetables

 

The Grande:

-Grilled Rack of Lamb

New Potatoes, Sweet Carrots

-Fettuccine

Tomato & Basil Sauce

-Oven Roasted Chicken Breast

Asparagus, Saffron Rice

-Pan Seared Lemon Sole

Steamed Broccoli, Brown Butter & Lemon

 

Could be worse...we're some of those who will miss the MDR experience, but some others in our group sailing think it will be the best thing since sliced bread. I guess we'll find out...still, a little nervous about possibly being one of the FIRST sailings on the Oasis after the change.

Originally Posted by zjc

Does anyone know if Dynamic Dining will still have Always Available Menu?

 

None of the Menus interest me in the slightest and spending two weeks on board will not be practical if they don't have additional items.

I'm still waiting for a satisfactory answer to this question as well. Most of the items on the menus in the complimentary restaurants are either of no interest to me, or would actually make me ill. I saw the post where it was stated that there would be an alternate, Always Available menu, but that post only mentioned steak, and nothing else. I can't eat beef, so that wouldn't do me any good at all. I e-mailed Crown & Anchor and expressed my concerns, but haven't had a reply yet. I'll post it here, if I get one.

Just a quick note to let you know that, although this review was created some time ago, it lives on as a source of excitement and anticipation for new cruisers!

I binge-read this review, in its entirety, just this afternoon. I'll be taking my first RCI cruises on an Oasis B2B vacation next March. I already feel well prepared with the many tips and recommendations from the extensive knowledge you've shared with us.

 

Thanks so much, cheers!

I loved this review too...just don't get too attached to any of the Dining tips or menus. We're booked on the Oasis in March 2015, and have just had a rather bad shock...

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2092946

Maybe some of the folks around here who are jumping on people who have a tough time dealing with change should take a look at their own intolerances. We all cruise for our own reasons. Something that may be very trivial to one person could well be the major reason that someone else takes cruises. Its not a hard concept.

 

Well said. Thanks.

 

I, personally can't stand the MDR and have no desire to eat dinner with a group of strangers. I cruise to spend time with my family. But I certainly get that plenty of people love formal night, meeting new people, and everything else that goes along with the traditional MDR experience. For them that is what cruising is about. They are unhappy about loosing that. Maybe they deserve a bit of a break.

 

People like the MDR for different reasons. I have no desire to eat dinner with a group of strangers, either. I do like eating with the group of a dozen or so that take our group sailings with us. DD threatens to make that more difficult, along with some other inconveniences. That's what troubles me about it. I don't really have an issue with RCI changing things up, I just don't want them to do it on a cruise I've already booked, partly paid for, and designed my entire spring vacation around. I understand that whenever they make the change, that's going to happen for someone. I just wish it wasn't me. :rolleyes:

There is in fact a standard alternate menu. Beef, Steak, etc. It will be available in all of the restaurants. This questions has come up countless times on the Quantum forums and was answered by Adam Goldstein at the DD google hangout.

 

It solves the issue of, for example, a 6 person group wanting to dine at Silk, but only 5 like Asian food. The 1 person who doesn't like Asian food, will be able to order off an alternate "normal" menu.

 

I have looked at the menus for the complimentary restaurants, and I really feel that whether the DD concept will work for our group will depend on the availability of this "standard alternate menu", and what is included on it. Some in our group have food restrictions/allergies, and looking at the menus for the complimentary restaurants I feel that they are far too restricted. We sailed on Oasis last year and never frequented any of the "For a Charge" restaurants. Is RCI trying to "squeeze out" those of us who don't spend a ton of extra $$ on dining and drinking once on board?

 

I really enjoyed the MDR experience earlier this year on Oasis, and was looking forward to a repeat next year with the cruise we've already booked for March. I can see some advantages to DD (such as not having to be sitting in the dining room when we'd rather be up on deck experiencing the sail-away from various ports, being free to choose which nights we want to dress up, and which nights we'd prefer to go casual, and the freedom of making earlier reservations on nights when we want to see a show after dinner). We loved the Windjammer for lunch, but at dinner we enjoyed the "fine restaurant" atmosphere in the MDR. I'd hate to have to give that up and have to schlep our own plates each night in the Windjammer just to avoid having to rack up a big credit card bill at the end of the cruise.

 

Does anyone have a link to the discussion of the "alternate menu"? And does anyone know what the $, $$, $$$, $$$$ designations on the various For a Fee restaurants actually translates into in dollars?

 

Also, we are booked to sail in March with a group of 12-15. There may be nights when we all wish to eat together, or when we want to dine with one of the other families. When making reservations with the DD restaurants, will we be able to make them for more than just those in our own cabins?

So, then, just switch to the Allure the same week - problem solved.

That could work, except we don't want to do Western Caribbean.

It's driving me nuts that RCI keeps posting on their FB page that DD will start "in March", and then again that sailings "thru March" will be unaffected. We are sailing on Oasis in March, and I really want to know whether our sailing will be affected or not. We are some of those stick-in-the-muds who do not like the idea of DD at all - we like eating dinner at the same place every night, having the same waiter every night, not having to worry about reservations, not having to pay extra for our meals. Not at all happy about this change. For those who say, "Try it, you'll like it," that's all well and good for folks who are able to take cruises all the time - for those of us for whom it is a rare treat, if we try it and DON'T like it, it's a much bigger deal. Just sayin'

In all the years we've been going to St. John, I've yet to visit with anyone who felt "stuck" on St. John. If there is one place I'd like to get stuck, that's it!!! :)

Maybe "stuck" isn't the right word. Personally I'd like to get stuck there, too! It's just that the reality of not being able to get back to the ship to lie down might induce a sense of panic in one of our group members!

 

I'm thinking we might do the ST08 St. John Ultimate Island & Natil Park Beaches and rather than stay at the beach at Trunk Bay, re-board the bus and head to Cruz Bay where maybe we can find a place to sit and have a cup of coffee and do a little shopping. Either that, or the STL2 Coastal Cruise of National Park, which gives 3 1/2 hours to explore the island which might give us time to take a short taxi ride around the island. Has anyone taken either of these shore excursions?

 

The first time we went to St. John, we took the tender from the Norway, which anchored off-shore, did not opt for an official shore excursion, thinking we'd just poke around in Cruz Bay...at 6AM! There wasn't even a cup of coffee anywhere in sight! Our group of 10 walked up the hill thinking there would be something beyond it...only to find....another hill! So we walked back to the dock and got a "taxi" and took an unofficial island tour.

 

The second time we were on a Carnival cruise, and we took a shore excursion, but it wasn't nearly as long as 6 1/2 hours.

We're planning to go on the Oasis again next March, this time on the Eastern itinerary...you couldn't manage to do that one, say a month or two before we do, and post a similarly detailed review, could you? :D

I'm up early early need a cup of cof ... :) I could enjoy mine on the balcony real early. Need the energy to battle the pool chair hogs!! Lol

Early morning coffee and pastries or fruit on the balcony with some epic sunrises and views coming into port - those are some of my favorite memories of the cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm looking at the shore excursions offered by RCI for an Oasis cruise next March. From what I'm reading it seems as if the return time to St. Thomas from St. John is fixed on these official excursions. We have someone in our party that might not be up to a full 6 1/2 hours ashore, and who wouldn't want to be "stuck" in St. John if she felt she needed to go back to the ship to rest. However, we definitely do NOT want to miss St. John, as it's our favorite port of call in the Caribbean. Would we be better off doing a DIY, or is there a better way of doing it? All we really want to do is ride around the island and see the sights. I remember the vistas along the drive as being spectacular.

Coffee is available 24 hours. Breakfast for sure by 6am, maybe earlier.

...although on the Oasis there was a $3.95 charge for Room Service between midnight and 5 AM.

You could certainly write that in on the order form! Maybe bring a highlighter, so they'll be sure to see it! Or, turn the ringer on the phone down!

Good to know! Both....never thought of turning the ringer down, guess I didn't know it could be done!

We sailed on the Oasis in February, and ate in the MDR every night, and in the Windjammer every afternoon, and had room service for breakfast every day. We were impressed with the quality of the food, and even more impressed with the service. (We had 6PM dinner seating, but I understand you may or may not get the same level of service when doing MyTime dining.) The only things I didn't care for were the Lobster Bisque (way too dark, and strong - even the waiter discouraged it!) and the lamb on the last night. (The lamb was my own fault - I didn't realize it was such a dark, heavy meat, and dark meat and I don't get along at all. So for anyone who likes dark, heavy meats, it would probably have been fine.) Everything was always fresh. We're not haute cuisine people, but we do like good food. I definitely think that the quality on the Oasis was better than previous cruises we've taken on CCL and NCI, but that was years ago. I know for SURE the casual "Windjammer" was far better than the buffet-style dining venue on the Carnival Sensation!

On our Oasis cruise this past February, we put out our breakfast room service tags every night for delivery around 6:00-6:30 AM. Just coffee, pastries, and fruit and fruit juice. I am a very early riser, and need my coffee as soon as one foot hits the floor. :D My DH is not such an early riser. He usually snoozes for another hour or so.

 

My question is this - Room service would call our room phone 10-15 minutes before they delivered our breakfast, which disturbed my DH's sleep (and jangled my nerves first thing in the morning!):eek: I am a very light sleeper, and I would NOT be one of those who would sleep through the room service knock. My internal alarm works too well for that - I'd almost certainly be up before the knock even came. Can you request room service NOT to phone you before coming?

Easy one - had a pretty lazy CS years ago. Took everything out and put it into the sink. Let him know that the sink still needed to be cleaned - "you" put that stuff wherever you want - the chiller is "mine". The second day everything went away ;).

 

YMMV.

We asked our Stateroom Attendant to empty the mini-fridge, and he just took everything out and stuck it up on the high shelf with railings above the dresser. That was fine with me - too high for me to reach anyway, it wasn't tempting, and I wasn't going to use that space. Then we were able to just put everything back in on departure morning, and no questions asked about "where did the stuff in your mini-bar go", or mistakenly being charged for it. The Mini-Bar-Man still tried to come by every day to re-stock, we never let him in once, just said "No, we had it emptied upon arrival." All he did was look at us funny.

Thanks for the input, everyone! I didn't realize there were so many replies - notifications stopped coming in. We grabbed the cabins based on your input, and that of the TA who agreed.

For an upcoming cruise on the Oasis, we were offered cabins 10562 and 10564, connecting cabins near the forward staircase. Good idea, or bad idea?

We cruised Oasis on the Western Caribbean run in February. Our ocean view balcony cabin was on the starboard side, and I truly enjoyed the early morning views coming into the ports at Labadee, Falmouth, and Cozumel.

 

We are planning another Oasis cruise, this time Eastern Caribbean. Generally speaking, which side is the better side for early morning views of docking activity on port days on the Eastern run? I know it may depend on whether the ship is scheduled for lifeboat drills on one side or the other, so there's no guarantee, but on which side would the odds be stacked in my favor?

I am the OP.

 

For those of you that made kind replies, thank you. It was very informative.

 

For the rest of you (you know who you are), nothing.

 

jrpend

 

~~;)~~

Agreed. You can't just call RCI again and hope they will say something different next time (although we know this has happened before! - just usually not in one's favor). The special needs department info is on the website.

I found the e-mail address for Guests with Special Needs it's special_needs@rccl.com. If these are true medical needs, they should be able to help.

I'm looking at booking room 12624. On the deck pans, there is a blank space across from the room. Does anyone know what that is? Is there something there that would make the room less desirable?

There's a similar "blank space" in the deck plan across from the cabin we were in on Deck 10 -10688. I think it was a supply room of some sort. The only time I noticed any noise from it was when I'd go back to the cabin right after early dinner seating, and the cabin attendants were doing turn-down service for our neighbors who were at late dinner seating. It wasn't bad, and didn't last long. There was more noise from the attendants cleaning the neighbors' cabins at that hour than from the supply room itself. So if that's what it is, I don't know that it would be anything to worry about. Others may have had a different experience.

I have seen a lot of varying reports of success on bring soda and water onboard the cruise ship. If soda is found in a carry-on all they do is confiscate it right? I don't really want to lose a whole lot of time or cause any issues. I just prefer pepsi to coke and wanted to bring a few for the week. I read somewhere that if they find it your luggage you have to go down to a room to get it. So I just wanted to know where the least troublesome location will be even if it gets caught. Thanks.

We checked two coolers with soda in February in Fort Lauderdale, and it got through ok - except for the one cooler I inadvertently left a knife in! :eek: My DH had to go to the naughty room, where they gave him our soda, but kept the knife and gave us a claim ticket to collect it at the end of the cruise. We didn't....too embarrassed. LOL :o

 

Some have said they are stricter during Spring break. You can try bringing it, just be aware it might not get through. I'd rather check it and have it confiscated than to try to carry it on and have it confiscated in our presence.

Okay... I spoke with RCCL and they say NO DRINKS - strictly enforced - except 2 bottles of wine....

 

Well, what if you don't drink wine? Could I substitute those 2 bottles of wine for 2 big bottles of water (or my coveted Diet Pepsi - I loathe Coke products!)..

 

More importantly, I know they say you can't bring it all on board, but as of lately, have people encountered any issues? Like I said, I'm a diet PEPSI girl.. slightly addicted. While I can get it in ports, it's my "coffee" in the morning, so I would love to be able to bring enough on for that...

 

And, we have 2 will-be toddlers. One is a cardiac patient and we need to have water pretty much at our disposal for him (and I'm a little hesitant to rely upon the water they have on board - I'm picky about the brand(s) I will give them because of the added "nutrients" and other stuff in them...) Additionally water-wise, my older son will ONLY drink out of a specific brand of water bottle (it has a pop-top), and hates all other brands & won't drink water from a cup.... so, I'd like to be able to bring at least a few bottles for him for that reason.

 

Lastly - on Gatorade ---> I've heard they offer PowerAde in the drink add on, but last I checked, there isn't a low carb/low sugar option that they'd have available. I'm diabetic & cannot have the higher sugar stuff, but *need* Gatorade after running, and my husband has the same *need* after working out... and, similarly, our kids will NOT drink Pedialite for replenishment - only this Gatorade, so if they were to get sick, I'd like to have some available to us...

 

That said - should we bring all this up to the accessibility department (and would these things even be considered special needs/exceptions)? I don't want to unnecessarily "red flag" our account/cabin! :eek: But, we've never encountered this with having sailed CCL in the past...

 

If there is a medical need, contact Guest services ahead, they can be remarkably helpful. My daughter has a medical condition where sometimes she can't eat anything but soft foods - and in particular, Dannon Coffee Yogurt, because it's not so sweet and it doesn't make her blood sugar go wonky. I contacted RCI months in advance, and asked if by any chance they carried that brand and flavor of yogurt on board, told them why, and asked if they didn't have it if we could bring on our own. They said they would provide it for her, but I was a bit skeptical. Lo and behold, they actually obtained two cases of it for her, and made it available through room service any time she needed it! Two cases - JUST for her! We were very impressed! We just had to remind them of it a few weeks before our departure date.