ATLgirl15

4 hours ago, momto3sons said:

Sorry to hijack, we are planning to do this soon. Can you tell me what activities there were on the sea day? TIA

I didn't pay too much attention to the activities - usually sea days I like to find a nice quiet place to read and watch the view.  I love all the cozy seating areas.  

I think I remember seeing a wine and food pairing and scotch tasting.  As well as the usual trivia, movies, lectures.  

Just sailed a Silhouette 4 night cruise and it definitely was a wider range of ages and a more lively crowd.  I was surprised how often we saw people out after 11. Seemed like all venues drew a crowd.

Thanks for all the info. We’ve done a few celebrity cruises but not since the pandemic. We’re looking to book a Royal suite on reflection in a few months so it’s good to see some positive news on CC 🙂 

I know you’re not eating dinner in Luminae but I remember the sommelier would pour any wine by the glass even if it’s not listed as available by the glass. I wonder if they still do that. That was a nice benefit. 

That is disappointing - I always looked forward to afternoon scones. Does anyone know if they still do this in the suite lounge? 

Thanks for the update. Didn’t realize a change was made so recently. Guess I should count myself lucky that we got in right beforehand 🙂

Sailed Harmony last month and was able to use it later in the week. We did pay on night 2 but used it night 5.  

Sailed Harmony last month. The comedy shows did not show up in the app before sailing but they ran multiple nights and multiple times.  But I’d still recommend securing soon after boarding.

We just returned from Harmony with our almost 2 and almost 4 year old grandsons.  It’s our only experience with kids club but it was great.  The cut off for nursery vs kids club is 3 yo and potty trained.  So your child should be in the regular club. Our 4 year old loved it and couldn’t wait to go each day.  We only sent them in the evenings because we wanted to “play” with them in AM and afternoons were usually nap time for the little one.  Anyone over 3 is able to attend without reservations or for any amount of time they are open.  They close between 12-2 and 5-7 presumably so you can feed them except on port days they are open through lunch.  I heard but didn’t experience that you can sign them up for a kids club dinner on formal night between 5-7.  They are open until 1 am but there is a fee after 10. We never left them after 10 mainly because there is no sleeping option outside of the nursery.  I feel like that’s the one flaw with the program and they should have some mats for laying down at night.  But it seemed well run.  One day they made these silly paper crowns and our grandson wore it so proudly, even on the airplane home.  And then he wore it to school the next week to show his friends. I don’t know how it compares to Disney but all the kids seemed to be excited at drop off time.  As well as parents 🙂

wait time wouldn't be an issue.  Kids club is closed between 5-7 so we have 2 hours to kill - dinner at Windjammer and then dessert/mocktail at Wonderland.  

I wish the bar was open later than 9 o’clock. Sounds like it’s popular enough to warrant extra hours beyond restaurant closing time.

Thank you! That sounds smart to prearrange a time in advance.

I know you can go to this bar without going to dinner which is great as we aren’t interested in a 2.5 hour fancy dinner.  But I’m so curious to try the globe!  If we had the UDP would we be able to order just dessert with a drink in the bar? Second question - are kids allowed in the bar area (at a table, not actual bar) - I think they would get a real kick out of the space…and dessert if it was possible.  Maybe have a “mocktail” with the cotton candy?  If not we’ll just have our drinks while they’re at kids club.

We had that bathroom sewer issue once on Celebrity - they tried so many times to fix it and it never resolved.  So I sympathize.

I agree it seems that there are more and more kids filling up Royal.  I think last cruise they said they were sailing at 120% capacity. It was around Christmas time so school must have been out already.  We’re never sailing Royal again during school breaks.

the elevator situation has gotten out of control. 2 cruises ago I was traveling with my SIL who is in a wheelchair.  We tried and tried to get on an elevator but I couldn’t maneuver her fast enough and people kept filling up the elevator before we could get there-and these were adults who should know better! It happened over and over and I was on the verge of tears. Finally a very nice passenger spoke up and told everyone to wait and let us get on the next one.  

we sail again in a week but I have high hopes - schools in session, we’re on 17, no wheelchair but will have a stroller at times.  

Our last cruise had the same letter ahead of time but once on board the bar was open 11-11.  Everything except liquor was served complimentary.  As far as dress code, I think as long as you aren’t in pool wear you’re fine during the day.  Evenings I would say wear whatever you wear for dinner.

That’s my understanding too but was hoping…

I have a slightly similar situation but haven’t been able to find an answer yet on CC.  My husband and I are also D+ but on our next sailing well have the unlimited dining package.  We’ll be sailing with 2 others who have neither.  Would we be able to go to dinner and use the 2 UDPs and the BOGO and therefore only have to pay for 1 extra dinner rather than 2?  I didn’t know if the “first” dinner had to be yourself.  I have heard we can give our drink vouchers to others but no one seemed to know about this.  We’re fine either way but it would be nice.

I won’t repeat anything that’s said already because that pretty much covers everything.  The only thing we do with the concierge before boarding is if the ship is going to Labadee we have them book us a cabana in the suite area.  Everything else we wait until we’re on board.  Rarely had issues with being squeezed in somewhere.  
 

I feel like we get the same story about dinging times where they try to push us into the traditional times to turn over tables.  You just need to say no, I want xyz.  Sometimes we’ve taken a later booking and showed up early and it was no problem.  

Thanks Mike, I’ll give it another try on our upcoming cruise.

I remember that! Our kids thought it tasted like chick-fil-a. Then the Kummelwick became the “must have” embarkation sandwich and sadly on our last cruise it had also gone downhill 😞

I meant about the a la cart credit amount. $25 seems a little skimpy.  And when I say argue, I mean I would challenge them on it, not be a Karen. 

It really depends on which of those perks you would actually use, not their full value.  We usually sail in sky class but we’re also diamond plus so we get drink and laundry and some specialty dining perks already.  The genie sounds great but I guess you can’t miss what you don’t know 🙂

I guess I’ll find out in 3 weeks but I can see myself arguing with them about it.  I’ve never had a dining package on Royal but have on Celebrity and they do not “limit” anything in the sushi restaurant.  Granted I haven’t sailed them since COVID so who knows.  Hospitality industry across the board is becoming less “hospitable.” 

Seems like a lot of different experiences. But if you can order a la cart up to the $39.99 credit that seems to make the most sense for us.  Sometimes we prefer more small plates and less main.

We have the UDP on our upcoming cruise for the first time.  Last cruise we paid at Izumi and the server was great - he said just tell me what you want and I’ll figure out how to bill it the best way.  I think we paid for 1 combo and 1 small plate for the 2 of us.  He must have subbed out a small for dessert automatically.