cindivan

Wow. Just wow. Who in the world is right.    Definitely not anyone with shellfish or nut allergies. I am rarely a fan prix-fixe menus, but this one also begs the question who in the world thought this was a good idea.

Wow!  Thanks for sharing. Beautiful room!

This may not really be an option since you’re spending quite a bit of time in Disney before, but it took me a few cruises to realize I don’t need many shorts and T-shirts for casualwear during the day. We tend to spend most of our days at the pool so just swimsuits and coverups, and then typically go straight into our dinner clothes. When our kids were younger sometimes they would change into more casual clothes after dinner, but usually we just stay in the same clothes all night.  
 

Also, depending on how your feet like heels you may want to limit the amount of higher ones. Not sure how big the ship you are on is, but there is a lot of walking. Sometimes I’ll wear more dressy and higher heels for a formal dinner, but then will typically go back and change into something more comfortable. But one of my best friends jokes she was born in heels and can walk for hours in stilettos if you are like that then this doesn’t apply. 
 

Have a great trip!!

Hmmm. We are getting new luggage for Christmas and I think this made me realize I need to join the rest of my family with the dual sides that hard case suitcases have. I like the stacking one side better, but my luck will probably run out eventually. 
 

No issues with the hard sided luggage leaking at the seams??

I have signed up for several meet and mingle’s over the years, but they seem to be around 10 am on the first sea day. Part of my favorite thing about vacation is sleeping in, so I’m not in a hurry to get up and make myself presentable for meeting a bunch of new people at 10 AM.  😂.   I have quit signing up for them because I haven’t made a single one.  
 

I do think that roll calls for cruises with ports that are new to people tend to be more active. Our Asia cruise (celebrity) in February has been pretty active for over a year.   Holiday cruises get very little action in my experience because I’m guessing people are cruising with family and aren’t as interested in meeting new people. 
 

I also think that people get intimidated or put off by some of the aggressive and/or demeaning responses that occur when someone (often new to this site) asks what to them is a reasonable question.      One good thing about the aforementioned platform (which I don’t like much personally) is that the organizer of the cruise date can choose to delete comments and keep things more on a positive trajectory.   And maybe when our personal info is out there for everyone to see people are less likely to make antagonistic statements. 

If everyone books separately and then later try to combine they  might not be able to seat you at the same table. there are only so many tables that can seat big parties. 
 

Short answer, if you want to sit together you need to book as one party. Especially for specialty dining. I am pretty sure they do allow you to enter in different credit cards when you pay, but it’s still a PITA for the person organizing it
 

Just read 8 people total. Some specialty dining might be able to handle that. What ship are you on?

And MTD shouldn’t be a problem if you can prebook it.    I think most ships have tables up to 10?  We have done mainly freedom class and bigger so can’t speak to the smaller ships. 

My time dining is when you don’t have a specific date and time and you can show up when you want to, or you can make reservations prior to boarding based on availability.  There are lots of threads on dining reservations, but I will try to summarize that dining reservations open up at random times depending on how far out your cruise is.  It used to be three months, but a few years ago it changed to sometimes nine months sometimes, sometimes over a year.  I would just recommend checking your cruise planner to see if it’s available yet.

With 8 cabins I’m assuming at least 16 people, maybe more.  What ship are you on? Even on the oasis class ships, their specialty restaurants typically won’t take that many at one time so if you want to do specialty you’re probably going to have to opt for different times.

MTD would be able to handle that many at once, but that’s assuming you were able to make reservations prior to boarding for everybody at the same time, On different reservations because they only allow for 10 per reservation.  When you get on board you would go to my time dining to ask them for your tables to be seated near each other.   It is not an easy process for group this large. They always try to pressure you into going very early or very late, if you haven’t reserved prior to sailing, I would guess early or late is going to be your only options if you want to dine together.

as far as shore excursions, we don’t typically book them through the cruise line. But from my understanding you just show up when the excursion is supposed to meet and you can be together. But anyone that typically does ship-based excursions knows different please correct me

We typically travel in large groups so I have some experience as I am the primary planner. What are you specifically asking about?

dining?    Forget about specialty dining for that large of a group.  Anytime we try to book more than 6-8 people depending on the venue we can’t get the same time. MTD?  Max of 10 per table/reservation. If you are early enough and are lucky enough, you can book everyone same time, you can try to convince them when on board to be seated near each other. However be forewarned they probably will try to pressure you into 530ish or 830ish when you ask to be seated near each other. Stand your ground if you have the reservations. But if not, it will be tough. You may have to be 15-30 minutes apart and take turns who didn’t with who. Traditional dining?  We don’t do that because we don’t like the times so will let someone else speak to that. 

Shows? Just make reservations for everyone and meet up in time to get in before the general masses. 
 

excursions?    Personally, I would never book excursions from the cruise because it’s more expensive and I don’t like being part of that large of a group. But I don’t know where you’re going so can’t speak to that specifically.  But in general, there a lot of great private excursion companies that could handle a group your size

1 hour ago, mickeygirl78 said:

We were offered Izumi at 5pm or 9pm. We took the 5pm. My preference is 6-6:30 but most of our meals were 5:30 with one 6pm. They told us they were full but most restaurants were not full when we were there. 

 Thanks so much for that reply.   That really helps my decision

We are scheduled to go on it November 13. I will post our experience. 

Depending on the  ship, some have luggage valet. Sounds like the same thing, but on Royal for a fee ($25 pp last time we used it) unless you’re in a suite. And your flight has to be after 11 AM for Caribbean flights, not sure on other areas.  
 

if you have status with your airlines and have free bags, I think there is a way to get around that fee. For us it required a trip to guest services. But it has been a couple years since we’ve used it so it might have changed. 

I know you said izumi was not the time you wanted. Were the other restaurants available for times you wanted? What time do you typically like dining?

Thanks for your review. We have gone back-and-forth over booking that for a couple cruises, but we really prefer to eat between 630 and 730, and we end up paying maybe 25% more to get the times we want and just book ahead.  I try to read all the reviews, but I never really get a sense of how possible it is to book prime time for most nights for the restaurants you want.

It has probably been five or six years since we have tried to switch names on the rooms once we board. When we tried to when our kids were younger, we were always told someone 21 and up always had to be listed in the room. I’m not saying they won’t waive that requirement, just saying that we did not have luck with them waiving it in the past.  And maybe it will be different because of the suite privileges.    Because that definitely makes a difference and I get that. I just don’t know that I would trust that it will be handled on board.  
 

There was one time when my parents and my husband and I were in an aqua theater suite. But my mom was listed with my kids in a balcony room for the 21+ requirement, so she had a regular seapass. When we got to different venues we just explained to them that my mom was listed in their room because of the 21 and up requirement, and it was never a problem getting her in anywhere because we had previously booked our son who was listed in our room with the same venue that we wanted to do. . But we never tried to get in my parents and us and our kids at the same time.     However, this was before the coastal kitchen and we rarely went to the suite lounge. It was more for the reserved events. But I can’t imagine your situation is unique, so I’m guessing your suite concierge will help you figure out if you can’t switch names either before or after you board. 
 

I do think though that if your rooms are beyond with Royal considers close enough for underage kids, and under age being a ridiculously old age for royals definition, it’s going to be tough to have them waive that. I would love to hear if you have success, because I have not seen other people say they have.   I’m not trying to be negative, I just don’t think that I have heard about a whole lot of wiggle room with Royal in this policy and would hate to think that you think that it’s going to be handled with no problem when you board. Maybe it will, and I would love to hear that if it does. 

On the Allure in the cruise planner it’s $49ish for a pre-fixe sushi menu. Definitely not worth it for us for what it lists.   We like the sushi but the pre-fixe menu is overpriced and you don’t have any choice of rolls. 

If you think about the cruise industry, the loyalty program works vastly different than other industries in the travel world such as airlines and hotels. With airlines and hotels you have to earn your status every year. There seems to be more reward in those industries (although arguably not much at the lower levels of airline loyalty) because they help out customers that are currently spending the most money. Cruise lines are stuck in this world of expecting to reward anyone who has ever cruised with them, regardless of how long ago it was or if current spending is minimal.   That has got to be quite a conundrum that I am guessing is often discussed at Royal.

We recently made diamond plus, but I can’t remember the last time we’ve been able to use a crown and anchor discount in combination with whatever other discount they were running. I remember the first time I was disappointed, but now it’s just the way things are and I don’t really even think about it. I have been lulled into complaisance on this one. But we don’t cruise Royal exclusively, so it doesn’t really bother me that much. We spend what we think we want to spend on an itinerary and cruise looking at the available discounts and just move forward.

Since it’s not possible to seat everyone at the same table we always make some agreed-upon arrangements or games where we decide who sits where. For example The first night we usually say it’s couples and families. Then one night we might say it’s girls at one table and guys at  other and as close as you can get to that based on your seating. Another night we might say everyone has to sit with kids other than their own. One night it will be adults and kids. And when we run out of ideas, our teenagers  find a random number generator on the Internet and we decide who sits where based on that. It’s fun to change it up And talk to people that we normally wouldn’t sit next to. I’m not sure if your group is like us, but typically when we travel with such large groups like that it includes a lot of people we don’t see on a regular basis. It’s natural to want to sit next to the people you know better, so For us to have preplanned nights where we know in advance the approximate seating chart it helps everyone branch out to sit near people that aren’t their first instinct. 

Like many had mentioned before it’s such a personal preference of whether you want to stay the night somewhere in the middle. Yes, it’s probably safer in case  a flight is delayed. But for me and DH, it’s more of a hassle of going to the hotel, unpacking, sleeping, getting up, packing and then getting back on another airplane. We would just rather push through the process and get there.  And then spend a few days pre-cruise relatively near port. 
 

we aren’t retired, and maybe we will change your mind when we are. But I really don’t think so just because of the hassle factor. But ask me again in X years. Who knows!

I recently had a wrist to shoulder cast put on my right arm and have not been in a laughing out loud mood  lately. Thank you for these last few posts because they have made me laugh quite a bit!!!

And Red Skeleton is a bit before my time. But I would imagine like any comedian I would find some of his stuff funny and some not so much.

One of my favorite cruise tshirts. 

You will register a credit card when you board for your onboard expenses if you haven’t already done it in your cruise planner. This is done by your cruise card/sea pass,, not by room. So anything that anyone charges to their cruise card will go to their credit card linked  to that card regardless of what room they’re in.

I think daily gratuities also work this way, but that might be worth asking your suite concierge to confirm.  

We’ve had the same issue for years. We have never had a problem getting extra keys for rooms when on board, and they don’t care where you sleep. Some people just have to carry two cards. We do let the room steward know what to expect however.  

They will still require that someone 21 and up be listed in each room. We have actually never had much success switching names on the rooms, but we’ve had no issue getting extra keys for each room and some people just have to carry around two cards. It’s not ideal, but solves the problem. 

 Thanks for all your replies everybody. I went ahead and booked for restaurants for times we want. The other three nights I’m hoping the concierge will let my sister and her husband from the junior lounge join us in the coastal. And if I can’t get the times I want the other nights then I will just keep my current reservations. If I can make good reservations for the specialty and I will cancel my current reservations and that will also open lunches for us. 

And as long as the concierge’s emails me a week or so and then I should be OK I’ve been able to cancel my current reservations, right?

On 10/4/2019 at 10:27 PM, karmacats said:

Just off grandeur, where you could buy the UDP onboard for $25 pp per night.

 

Fwiw, we had purchased it online beforehand and were assigned an 8 pm dining time, but we went to chops first thing when we boarded to make our reservations for the week and the host said we could choose any dinner times we wanted and could vary them each night. So at least on grandeur we were not locked in to that 8 pm dining time.

 

Since you're in a suite, if you pre-purchase the plan you can email the concierge your preferred schedule and they should be able to secure it for you. We've done that before with the 3 and 5 night plans.

That’s a great idea. And if he can’t get the times we want then we just keep with the individual times we currently have reserved.