jefarl

Thanks!!!!!!!

Anyone on Navigator this week with update on Voom?

Did they eliminate the cigar lounge ?

I just got off Navigator Sunday. Windjammer will open more a it gets busy.

 

Don't forget to Washy Washy!!(it's a Navigator saying).

 

Let me know when you hear it! LOL

 

 

Never been on Navigator but had heard the term for years in many many ships ...

Beverage packages are the same prices as online. I prepaid for ours and I noticed the signs have the same prices listed.

 

Wi Fi so far, is pretty good. Not as fast as home, but faster than it has been on recent cruises.

 

Ate in the dining room tonight, muster drill ended at 5:15 and we had 5:45 dining. Dinner was O.K. , nothing amazing, but filled my husband's belly. Going to watch the late night comedy show, will check back tomorrow for any other questions.

 

I will check about the martini flights when I can.

 

can you check if the VOOM internet sevice has been installed or if they know when it will be ready? RCCL is selling the Voom high speed internet with Steaming ability on their website for our May 8th TA sailing but many think it wont be ready... can you ask the tech department ?

so we still don't know if Navigator has or will have the VOOM they are selling us on the web site.... I signed up for it with the 30% discount and hopefully it will be there ...

What a mystery!

 

I'm perplexed in the differences among BA cabins. For instance, myself and DS are booked into a BA (14768) for 2 people. Hubby and DS are in a BA (14770) for 3 people, and our dear friends (a couple with no kids) are in a BA (14772) for 4 people. We all paid the same amount.

 

They are all the same size and layout from what I can tell. I won't know if there is a difference until we get on ship...but you can be sure I'll take pics and post here if there is one!

 

???

What tip percent do you tip a driver from smiths ?

I originally signed on the board to learn what the DD was. Having read most of the posts I can't believe how upset some of you are with DD and RCCL.

 

If you don't want DD then cancel your booking. If you think you need to book a reservation every night before you get on board then I feel sorry for you...

It's a vacation.... with so many places to eat you won't starve!

 

NCL started this concept with their Free Style Dining years ago, and most lines added MTD or whatever each calls it so that cruisers can choose when they want to eat and book speciallty restuarants if they feel like it. I know we would rather decide each day when we want to eat depending on shore times, show times or just how our day went in general. The only exception we might have if we are celebrating a special event and want to reserve a particular specialty place.

 

I can guanantee that 90% of the passengers won't be reserving times before boarding but waiting as I will. Most won't even know about it. The ships usually only allow pre-booking of a limited number of spots anyway so that the vast majority still can get times after they board.

 

As for limited menu changes or slow service, relax... again we won't starve and time is not a critical factor on vacation...

 

I for one am excited about the ship and our TA on May 2nd to Barcelona. The DD issue is a non-issue

 

This board is no longer an issue for me to follow and will be removing my subscripion to the postings...

I have been quietly reading these posts each day and decided to add my two cents...

First about the life jacket issue that just came up.....the Allure (and assuming the Oasis) has the jackets at the muster stations and not in the rooms so thus is not new to RCCL

Secondly, this DD program seems very much like the NCL free-style dinning then have been using for years. We sailed on many NCL ships and with up two about 12 venues to select (free or extra charge ) never seems to be an issue. Even the main or smaller free (pre-paid) dining options you have to wait maybe 15-30 minutes in the height of the dinning hour, especially if you are a group. They take reservations in these restaurants as well but most people show

up when the want to eat. It works well it NCL and not sure why it wouldn't work with DD? If one venue has too long a wait time, will try another if I wish...

We will be on the TA on May 2nd and want to veg out on this voyage so planning ahead on when and where I eat each day now seems foolish to me. I know I won't starve ( not that I can't afford to lose a few pounds...)

 

Jef from Bensalem PA

 

Oh.. Sorry if I made any spelling errors ......;)

just noticed my booking confrimation said Dynamic Dining option so i started to read the postings... Going on 11 TA in May and really don't want to think about making reservations now.. just may wait until each day or so on board and go with what we feel like and what is available..hey we are on vacation so will just chill out...

 

does anyone know yet if they will be putting people together to share tables if we want? or only if you come as 2 you sit as 2... would rather have shared tables and meet new people over a meal?

 

:)

you said you were a group of 11... did the main dining room have a table for 11 ? I was told the maximum table is only 10 and we are going as 12...

Thanks for the info. It's just an option if there's nothing else I feel like doing.

Maybe you can answer a coupe of other questions. When we are at Labadee, is there a cookout for us on the island? What time?

Also, is there a free ice cream machine on board?

Thanks again

 

 

as for the theater.. if you do go, take a seat on the aisle so you can see most of the screen..

as for Labadee- they set up Pavillion on each of the 3 beaches to serve lunch. Not sure when they start but runs for maybe 2 hours?? Note- if you are vegaterian, you are out of luck.. no fish, and not a great salad either...

Free Ice Cream machine was on-board and you could always buy premium ice cream at the 24hr Cafe on the Promanade...

Yes, although I've never gone. I think it's on deck 3.

the theater is VERY disappointing. small room with seating on same level (ie not statiium seating) so you can't see over heads in front of you. Made wrost by the large screen Floor to Ceiling... that means if you are not in the front row, can't see bottom of screen. If you are in the front row you are about 2 ft from this large screen!!... PLUS the quality of the picture is terrible...very grainy...

other than that, a nice place to sleep if no one is around...

I apologize is this is a dumb question. I searched the threads and could not find an answer so thought I would just ask. We are sailing on Explorer on August 25, 2012, 5 night to Bermuda. This is a our third trip on it. I cannot seem to find the link to order our luggage tags.

 

I know I can get them at the pier and it's not important but I was curious, have they done away with it for some reason? I was on the Explorer in March 2012 and ordered the tags in advance but I cannot find a link under my reservation. A friend suggested they may come in the package from the travel agent but they have not come like that before. I am sure I had to order them and after a certain date they did not send them out in advance. I have been checking for a while but we are now 32 days from leaving so it may be too late anyway.

 

As I said, I know I can get them at the Port so I am not worried but remain curious.

 

Bob

there is a link at the end of the cruise documentation section that you fill out...

[quote name='jefarl']Just wanted to confirm after reading some of these posts.
1. You CANNOT bring wine on board at all????

2. You CAN bring a case of water on board and just put a luggage tag on it and should not be an issue?

leaving on the EOS on June 7th

thanks for any responses..[/quote]
just wanted to confirm that we each took a full case of 30 bottles of water on board... taped the packaging better and put on a luggage tag... NO PROBLEMS OR QUESTIONS.... DELIVERED TO OUR CABINS WITH THE LUGGAGE...

thsi is a copy of a posting on made this weekend on the CC message board for RCCL topics... just wanted to share with the EOS watchers..

 

Just returned from the EOS and our first experience with MTD on RCCL. We love NCL's experiences, and last year tried MTD on Celebrity Soltace. Had no issues on the Soltace for our 13 day criuise. showed up whenever we wanted or made reservations earlier that day.They had 2 lines, one for people with reservations and one for those without. Either way, we were seated within a few minutes.

NOT SO on the EOS. First they usually had two lines but were mixed so you had to wait in either until the people before you were seated even if you had a reservation or not... sometimes people seemed to wait 10 minutes for the unreserved to be seated before the reserved got to the front of the line...

Our issue was much worse. We were traveling with a party of 6 and really wanted to sit by ourselves for diner. The first night we showed up around 6 and had not problem. The second day I called around noon for a 7pm reservation and was told they could only accomondate us at 5:45-6pm, or 8pm or later. As we wanted to see the evening's show and not eat after 8pm, we had to take the earlier seating. The next day I called at 9am and was told the same thing... either by 6pm or after 8pm. I asked when should I reserve for times in I wanted in between theses and was told "we never take reservations for a party of 6 other than by 6pm or after 8pm!" The said that way they could turn the table twice for the evening... and that I should pick a time and reserve for the rest of the cruise now....

I was beyond upset...

I proceeded to guest relations and asked to be put in contact with the "Hotel Manager" ie the top person incharge of all non-engineering services. The person at guest relations said he was the office in charge of the desk and wanted to try to help me first if he could. I explained what had occured and said... I guess MY Time Dining is really YOUR Time Dining!

Why couldn't I have a table when I wanted and why would I have to reserve ahead for a full cruise? MTD was supposed to allow us to make diner plans each night when we felt like eating, depending on the day and evening plans, ports of call, etc. If we wanted to be limited to Your time Dining we would have booked traditional Early or Late seating.

While I understand turning tables in restaurants, this is a cruise ship where if you offer MTD you need to be able to handle reasonable requests... The officer told me he was going to attend a meeting that morning with the restauanat managers and would get back to me that afternoon. By 1pm we had a message that we had a reservation for a table of 6 for the 6:30 pm we wanted that evening. The person at the MTD desk that evening then came over to our table and asked if we were happy with the table and offered us that table every evening if we wanted it. Since the location was perfect, the wait staff wonderful, we accepted it and had no issues the rest of the week, even adjusting the times several days due to circumstances.

 

All in all, not sure what we will do if we travel with a friends on future RCCL cruises. I think RCCL still needs to figure a way to handle the MTD option if it wants to offer it.

 

With a bad taste we have booked our next cruise in November on NCL EPIC

Iced tea in MDR on all RCCL ships. Coffee, iced tea and hot tea are what they serve as the beverage with no additional cost.

thanks!!

does anyone know if they serve iced tea in the main dining room? search this board but only found people discussing it was in the windjammer and coffee shop in promanade...

...

 

Global Data is apparently covered while cruising on the ship, relayed via the (MTN) satellite provider's signal tower - while roaming voice calls on the same device is billed at $1.99/min and 50 cents/5 cents for SMS ...

 

http://businessportals.verizonwireless.com/international/technology/cdma.html

 

...

Are you saying that I won't need the ship's wireless internet service to get my data directly to my phone using Global Data plan? I didn't see anything like that on the page(s) you referrenced?

mking8288 thanks for the info... you have confirmed what i understood it to be as this is my first cruise that i have had a "smart phone". I know about using the ship's slooooow and co$$tly wireless services.

 

So the summary is that i can use my cell phone to send text messages (50 cents) recieve (5 cents) on board or make calls at $2.99/minute. :eek:

I will be using text messages to locate the others in our party if we get totally separated..

I will shut off the data delivery options while on board. I have already added international calling option on the phone(s). I will buy the $25 Global Data plan for 100MB of data from Verizon and turn on the phone on shores. That way i can retrieve my emails and send emails as well. Still better that using the ship's internet. If i can get a free-wireless connection on shore at a bar or such,so much the better.

 

Sound about right???

jef

No internet service needed for texting. If you have a signal the 50/5 is all.

thanks.... any idea about the data question?

not sure where on this board it has been discussed so let me ask again ..

I have Verizon cell phone plan. I understand the calling from ship is $2.49/minute.

What I am confused to is the texting and data costs...

verison says it 's 50 cents to send text on ship and 5 cents to recieve one but does that require any of the ship's internet service that they charge for?

ALso- verizon has a global data plan shown on the same web page for the ship service at $25/100mb but again does that still need to have ship's interenet service to use?

seems like a lot of you have had great experiences with local taxi drivers as i did a few years ago.. We were thinking of just finding a pleasant chap either at the dockyards when we disembark or maybe later downtown. Are the rates per hour fixed for the taxis?

Just wanted to confirm after reading some of these posts.

1. You CANNOT bring wine on board at all????

 

2. You CAN bring a case of water on board and just put a luggage tag on it and should not be an issue?

 

leaving on the EOS on June 7th

 

thanks for any responses..