Mendels1029

Just got the email also. I'm wondering if the solarium is included in this as an indoor space. We will be on Odyssey and its fully enclosed. I'm not going to be a huge fan of sitting in the solarium and pools in the solarium with a mask.

It's funny seeing your pictures, I was just out of frame waiting in the terminal and about 10 ft away from you on sail away.  😎

11 minutes ago, mickeygirl78 said:

I did miss the main dining room. I had a great experience in the MDR on symphony in April. However it was good to try something new.  Out of curiosity, which steaks were over cooked? Our ribeyes and 9oz filet  all were perfect medium rare, it was the 6oz filets they over cooked. 

Yes always good to try the MDR from time to time.  My 9 oz. Filet was ordered med rare and was medium well to well done. My wife's ribeye was well done and should have been medium.  My FIL had a ribeye that was medium well to well done and my MIL had the 6 oz filet that was actually under done but ice cold. Our server was not very personable and just plain slow.  I forgot to mention, the food in 150CP was good but dinner took almost 2.5 hrs.  That was the night of the Alpha code just outside of 150 so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. Wonderland was good but it's more experience than anything. 

We were on board with you and also did the unlimited dining. Similar experience it sounds like.  We made our reservations in the terminal while waiting for the coast guard to clear.  We did have to do hibachi once on board though.  We made the mistake of not making lunch reservations as we had done walk ins for lunch without issue previously.  We weren't able to get in anywhere for lunch which was disappointing. On the last sea day we were finally able to get into chops for lunch.  Jamie's was booked all week for lunch which was disappointing. Lesson learned. We noticed overall service was very slow except at Jamie's.  By the time the main courses came we had sat so long we weren't really hungry anymore.  We went to chops for dinner one of the nights and had a horrible experience.  Service was excruciatingly slow and when the steaks finally arrived they were well done.  We are talking little to no pink and cold.  Sent them back and they came back warmer but now completely overcooked. Manager came over and offered lunch the next day which was nice but we had the unlimited plan so it really wasn't much help. When we went back for lunch on the last sea day the food was better but service was still bad. We actually canceled our reservations for Sabor the second formal night and ate in the MDR. This was honestly our second favorite dinner we had, just behind Jamie's.  Service was impeccable and food was actually good.  We have done unlimited dining in the past on Symphony and it made the cruise, this time it was more frustrating than good.

We are doing this exact thing in October with two kids and two adults.  We briefly looked at options but decided the most direct and easiest option was an uber.  I'm not sure how economically it will be but I plugged it into the uber website and right now it would be about $100 for my family of 4.  If you are a group of two it looks to be around $70. Price can vary though with timing. Again, there may be cheaper options out there but I'm all about easy when traveling.

We did without any issue with just our own mask and snorkel. Not a ton to see but it was fun.  The airplane is out of bounds now according to the life guards even though it's still on some maps.

We were on symphony last month and had the same issues with the app, it was wrong more than it was right.  A few days before the end of the cruise we were talking with someone else who said they uninstalled and reinstalled the app while on board and it fixed the issue.  We tried it and it fixed it for us too.  It was correct the rest of the cruise every time we checked it. It even started showing meal and show reservations which it hadn't done before.  It's a little late but try uninstalling and reinstalling in the future. 

I was there two weeks ago and the tallest slide was 1-1.5 hrs most of the day.  If you go early it could be as short as 15 min.  The slides lower in the tower were anywhere from 15 min to no line depending on when you hit them and luck.  The other group of slides with inflatable tubes or mats were about 15-30 min most of the day.  This was on symphony so a lot of people were there.

I was there two weeks ago on symphony with the half day pass.  We left on our own accord after lunch but never had any wristbands until we walked out the front entrance.  They asked if we wanted to come back later and gave us a yellow wristband but didn't scan our sea pass or check what we purchased.  It was the first time symphony was there so maybe they have changed it since but that was my experience. We weren't designated in any way having only the half day pass vs the full day.

8 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

I would have pressed the issue about Hibachi as there has been a lot of correspondence from a Royal saying that it is included.  I would imagine that there has been a lack of training and communication with regards to the new plan. 

We thought about making an issue of it, we did had the correspondence with us saying it was included, but decided it wasn't worth it.  We did ask several different staff people about it and got the same answer so we didn't think they would reverse the decision without a lot of escalation.  In hind-sight, we probably should have pushed it as the Izumi sushi was our least favorite meal we had during the week.  

We just got off symphony and had the unlimited package.  It was awesome and really made the cruise.  We did as others said and went straight to a specialty restaurant at boarding with a list of times for the week.  Two days had to be adjusted by 30 min but that was it.  We tried to do Izumi hibachi but were told by several staff members at different times including those at izumi, it wasn't included with the package so just be aware.  Seems to be ship specific as others have had no issues doing hibachi with the package.  We came home and promptly booked it again for our next oasis class sailing in October.  I'm not sure we will ever be able to go back to the MDR. There is just no comparison between the MDR and the specialty restaurants.  That being said I probably wouldn't do it on a non oasis class as there aren't as many specialty options.

Wave pool is in the waterpark and was a lot if fun.  If you plan on doing the tallest slide do it as early as possible.  We were traveling with friends who beat us off the boat and only had to wait 10 to 15 minutes. We followed about an hour later and waited close to an hour and a half for the tallest slide.  It was all fun and worth it, we are going again in October and will for sure do the water park again, but just try to beat the crowds early.  The island was amazing and we can't wait to go back. The island is really big and we only got to see about half of it.

I was there on symphony a week ago today and had booked the half day waterpark passes. When you enter the waterpark, they scan your sea pass card or wow band but we were not given any seperate wrist band to indicate half day or full day.  We quickly realized the only way they would know you only booked a half day was if you left the waterpark.  We ate lunch at the snack shack and left out of the front gates around mid day.  When we walked out they asked if we wanted a wristband so we could re-enter.  I'm guessing they got rid of the half day pass because its impossible to enforce.  We absolutely loved the water park but had enough after the half day we spent there.  We were tired of waiting in the long lines and wanted to check out the rest of the island.