nicolle

More than a year and a half ago, when I booked my November 2016 cruise, I never thought about the fact that I'd be on the ship on election day. This election has me very concerned about who the winner is. I sincerely hope I will be able to watch on my stateroom television.

At least you'll know who wins and the can decide if you really want to come back...

The cheapest cabana for my October cruise is $350 (unless you are in a "Grand suite or above" -- there's ones at $250 for them).

I was extremely disappointed when I saw the Labadee prices. They are ridiculously overpriced. I mean, 24 bucks for a water slide????

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It is obvious the ship is re-charted and you really can't mix regular passengers with the ZUMBA-fans that want to take over the ship! They really can't mix regular people with this group!

They have to be better than the Precious Moments people. :) It definitely felt like they took over the ship. There were literally fights in the public areas over figurine prices, etc. I'm not kidding. My sister couldn't even look at those figurines for years after the cruise.

Either way, it's a crappy thing for RCCL to do (cancelling or having a group that makes up more than 50% of the passengers). I really hope that they make it right for you :(

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For people commenting on the original poster not booking air through the cruise line, I've only booked air once through the cruise line. We did not have any flight delays, made everything on time, and still barely got on the boat on time. The next time we were going to, you could pick your flights...for an extra fee. Many people instead get there a day early and book a hotel. It's still far cheaper than the cruise airline fare.

It's one thing when a company has to cancel for something beyond its control, but when they INTENTIONALLY cancel to sell the boat or charter the ship instead, they should be doing everything they can to make it up to the affected people. That's why it does make sense to book an excursion through the cruise line even if it costs more, because many things out of their control can go wrong. But this is like someone booking an independent excursion and the ship suddenly deciding to leave port early and only telling the people on cruise-sponsored excursions. I've read several cases where people's cruises are getting changed to a chartered cruise, and the first place they find out that their cruise is going to be cancelled is these message boards!

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I think (at least on the Oasis) there was one family friendly comic showing, and it did not require pre-reservation like the main comedy show does.

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Is it definitely a _fully_ chartered cruise. I was on Independence many years ago, when at least 3/4 of the boat was a Precious Moments (PM) cruise. We didn't even know until we got there. (They sort of catered to the PM people which sucked for the rest of us. Like having PM things directly before shows, so they already had their seats before the non-PM people showed up at the normal time you get there before a show.) We did feel a little like second class citizens.

I don't know how you tell if a cruise is specifically chartered versus a "group" that makes up 3/4 of the passengers, but I figured it was worth mentioning that they do this just in case.

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Thanks everyone! It definitely helps to have some reassurance. It's noted in our reservation, and I can't remember if she's already contacted the special needs people yet (we're in October) but I remember she did that last time.

CVU, that would be so wonderful if they ever had a GF cheat sheet for people. There were definitely a lot of things we did not realize until closer to the end of the cruise, like that they'll do pancakes, etc., things she didn't even think to ask about.

Does anyone have any suggestions secret GF items to ask for? We could create an unofficial list. :)

My sister read that they have gluten free bread crumbs on Oasis and someone got eggplant parm! :) It's those little excitements that those of us who are not GF take for granted.

That's also cool about the separate buffet section. I bet that definitely improves cross contamination. People don't even think or realize about that stuff until you know someone who is GF. I know I didn't.

If traditional dining is an option, are you on a waiting list? Also definitely try to talk to the dining room when you get on the ship. If you explain your situation, they may be able to adjust things. Alternatively, I think with the my time dining, you can sometimes make reservations with the same waiter each night.

Sushi buffet on Princess Cruises. They should have called it "blobs of rice" buffet. :)

Just be a nice pain in the butt :) It sucks when you're on a limited diet, and especially when it's more than one thing.

One thing to note, a lot of the waiters are well versed on gluten now, but sometimes a little less so on other things. My sister is gluten free, but she was also dairy free for two years, and when we went on a cruise during that time (RCCL) they were great with gluten, but did not always understand "dairy" (you'd be surprised, people thinking eggs are dairy, or that sherbet is not dairy, etc)

I'm not sure how Carnival works for dining, but if they have traditional dining, definitely do that because the waiter will get to know you. It seemed like they discovered more extras as the cruise went on. Also, not having to go through the "what I can't eat" list every night was definitely nice.

It really is because of people booking/reserving multiple excursions and then "deciding" when they were on board. Disney ran into the same thing when making reservations for the sit down restaurants in the park and they had to start making people give a credit card number when they made their reservation.

It's sad that a few selfish people ruin it for everyone else. It's a pain, yes, but I just think of it like booking a flight. You pay for that before you fly.

They are still very flexible on cancellations (unlike the airlines :) ) and I know you can cancel up to a certain point for no reason with no penalty. And if you had a medical situation the day of, most reasonable places are going to be accommodating (using Disney as an example again because I've never had to cancel a shore excursion last minute, we had to cancel a dinner reservation an hour before because someone got sick. I went to the restaurant and explained, and they removed the reservation without charging us)

Another poster noted that there is a new menu on the Oasis (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2375673).

My sister is gluten free, and looking at the menu as it is marked is a bit of a bummer for the gluten free options. It looks like they have only marked the items that are gluten free as is. For example, the Caesar salad is not marked as gluten free in the main dining room (but it is on the Giovanni's menu). The New York strip loin they offer each night is not marked as gluten free (but the steak you can pay extra for is).

We've only cruised once since my sister had to go gluten free, and we discovered a lot of gluten free things that no one had mentioned until further along in the cruise. She did the normal ordering the night before thing (our table loved that they got to see the next night's menu early) but for that menu I think things had been marked that _could_ be made gluten free.

I'm basically just hoping for some reassurance that they are still making accommodations with the new menu. And if you were able to order any menu items that were not marked as gluten free. Thanks for any input anyone is able to give!

Does anyone who's been on a cruise with these new menus know if the items marked gluten free are the ONLY gluten free items? I know they have made adjustments in the past, but in the old menu I think they had marked the things that _could_ be made gluten free versus the items that are already naturally gluten free.

For example the Caesar salad is not marked gluten free, but I'm assuming is it just because of the croutons. On the Giovanni's menu, it is marked gluten free (the description is still listed with the croutons)

New York strip loin is not marked as gluten free but the steak you have to pay for is...

My sister is gluten free and I just worry about her having very limited choices. We have cruised once since she had to go gluten free (so we know about ordering the night before, etc) and we chose early traditional dining so we would have the same waiter every night. I'm hoping that someone gluten free has used these new menus and that RCCL was able to alter some of the menu items not marked gluten free.