TheBucketLister

I find it is hit and miss and really depends who is manning the queue that day.  The same pretty much goes for any port.  I have gone to the same port multiple times and some times I see they are refusing early entry for people.  Even on days where there are 5-10 people in a queue, they could still deny you.  It really comes down to the person and what they are feeling that day, or so it seems.  Also if you are in a suite, they have flexible arrival so they will let you in the queue up to one hour prior to your scheduled time.

Bottom line is don't count on it, if they do great.

It will be tight, but not unbearable.  I used to cruise with four in an inside stateroom, which is smaller and never regretted it while we were there.  Heck, I have even done 5 in an inside stateroom with Carnival (3 teenagers) and it was still doable and those staterooms are even tinier than RC! How much time are you going to spend in the room other than sleeping?  The biggest issue I found was for getting ready throughout the day (showers, etc.)  Because of the one small bathroom, it does add a lot of additional time to that aspect of your day.

Check the cruise planner.  Go to Spa Services and then filter by Men's Services.  If it is offered on that ship, it should be listed.  For example, for Anthem (in my Cruise Planner), a Men's Wet Cut and Style Dry is $32.

Bidding will more than likely (high probability) net you an obstructed view or accessible junior suite.  They are typically the ones that are left until last for those actually booking them.  I would go into it thinking that's what you are bidding on and if you get one that is not obstructed or accessible, that would be a nice surprise.

II have heard of this kind of thing happening more and more.  One more reason to have a good travel agent.  That way you don’t have the stress of trying to get it corrected.

Deck plans show this is a stateroom that holds three, so more than likely it will be two twins that can convert, and a pull out in the couch.

10 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Check the app for this week's sailing - it may list some activities for that age group.

@LrgPizza In case you don’t know how to do that;, swipe left and tap Select a different cruise, then tap Browse our Ships, select the ship, then select the current sailing.  Then you can scroll through all the activities each day.

3 minutes ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

no. The machine will only work with a chipped tumbler.

Has that recently changed?  I could be wrong, but I swear I remember outside of Sorrento’s, they had cups stacked for water to get from the Freestyle machine.

1 hour ago, njsmom said:

So it would work to go to say, Jamie's for lunch, Chops for dinner, Jamie's for a second dinner and then Playmakers for a late night snack? (I have a hungry teenager!)

Yes, as long as they have times available.

Since the laws in Texas dictate the policy, unless they have changed recently, I would imagine this threads responses would still be accurate.

19 hours ago, njkruzer said:

Love it, though once a cruise is fine.

19 hours ago, taglovestocruise said:

Agree with post 2, 2nd time on same trip would be slightly disappointing.

21 hours ago, acuprulez said:

I personally don't think it's worth doing twice on a single voyage.  

Curious as to why you think Chef's Table is a one time thing for a cruise, especially for a 15 night cruise. Isn't it the same as going to the same specialty dining restaurant multiple nights?  I was thinking like going once within the first couple of nights and once within the last couple of nights.  Any thoughts?

On 3/17/2023 at 8:45 PM, WestLakeGirl said:

At least one news outlet blames this fiasco for a drop in the price of company shares

 

I very much doubt it because most of the stock is held by institutional investors but it’s an interesting theory anyway

Typical media sensationalism. 😁 The whole sector was down that day.

21 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

Yep, I read an article just about 2 or 3 days ago that stated that they have developed a way of converting the stuff into biofuel at an economical rate. In other words, it doesn't take more energy to produce it than what it can produce, like so many other alternatives.  Sargassum and algae may be the fuel of the future LOL.

That would be nice if that ever came to fruition on a large scale.  However I wonder if it would be carbon neutral if they were to harvest it out in ocean, versus waiting for it to wash up on shore.  Ideally not waiting for it to wash up on shore would get rid of the negative externalities of it sitting on our beaches.

You can eat at as many places in one day for restaurants which have a traditional fixed price for dining.  You can only eat at the restaurants with à la carte menu prices (that have a dollar amount allowance) once per day.

So in your example, yes you could do Portside BBQ-Chops-Playmakers.

No, you can only go once a day to Playmakers. You could work around that limitation, if you have more than one person on the UDP and just not use one person's Playmakers visit for lunch and have them use theirs for the second visit.

2 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

If it’s a mass could it interfere with the big ships?  In other words will they have to go around it?  Will the masses of it interfere with the big propellers?  

Typically it is more wide than deep.  So I think most of the propellers are far enough below the water line to not be affected.

7 minutes ago, Old Fart Cruisers said:

I don't see why they wouldn't charge for small kids.   With the amount of extra work for dining staff, cleaning up the mess around the table, chairs, floors, (ceilings😁), Etc. with toddlers eating in the dining room.  More work for room stewards, making up pullman beds and cribs and all the extra cleaning involved with children in the stateroom.  More trash, towels, bed linens, Etc. 

To be fair I don't think they were wanting to remove the gratuities, just wanting to budget correctly.  But I agree, as long as your infant is utilizing any dining room services or stateroom services (like the ones you mentioned), you should pay the gratuity.

6 minutes ago, Bestvalue82 said:

Thanks for that. It gets confusing when people that are directly booking your vacations give different answers.

You’re welcome.  Unfortunately the agents at RC like to just make stuff up and not research it.  You ask 3 people the same question, you end up with four different answers. 😉

Royal Caribbean FAQs will be your best friend.

1 minute ago, Bestvalue82 said:

Im not concerned if they are exempt or not, i just like to know the full cost of the vacation when i am planning. 

Straight from Royal Caribbean (first paragraph):

“The gratuity applies to individual guests of all ages and stateroom categories.”

https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/onboard-service-gratuity-expense

I am pretty sure gratuities are for any guest traveling regardless of age.  You can remove gratuities by going to guest services and requesting them being removed, which you can do regardless of them being an infant or not.

Just got an itinerary update on our TA in October.

“Dear Guest,

To maintain a safe and comfortable speed along our journey, we’ve adjusted the times…”

Two ports have been adjusted and one port, Vigo, has been adjusted enough to possibly cause multiple excursions which are 5+ hours to cancel.  Bummer.

I couldn’t imagine this is related to the issues they are having, but it wouldn’t surprise me since the Quantum took months to resolve. 🤷‍♂️

We have never done the Chef's Table before, even on previous Star Class sailings, because I am not a seafood person.  I don't wan't my wife to miss out on the experience since she LOVES seafood.  We want to try it out this time on our Anthem TA in October.  First, are there any additional charges for this?  Second, since it is a 15 night cruise we were thinking about doing it a couple of times possibly, is there a limit to how many times, other than space availability?  Lastly, can we let the Genie know that one of us doesn't eat seafood and can they (kitchen) tweak the menu for the one person so that there are no seafood selections?  Thanks in advance!

8 minutes ago, HappyCouple72 said:

It appears the problem has been fixed , left cape Liberty on time , headed for port canaveral, and last night achieved 20+ knots ( according to marine traffic) 👍🏻

Hopefully.  I was on Quantum last year when she had her engine issue.  That took a couple months to fix I believe, so hopefully Anthem will not suffer the same fate.

13 minutes ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

What 99.9% of business decisions come down to... $$$.

 

So here's my theory...

Royal thinks they are spending too much money on the 2nd entrees.  The spacing them out is an attempt not incur the added costs.  Continuing my theory (before someone says they make all the dinners ahead of time)... let's say for the sake of argument there are 500 people eating in the MDR in a given night.  Let's say 10% order dual entrees... so they are serving 550 entrees.  They think that by requiring the "one at a time" rule, they will cut down on the number of dual entrees ordered.  I'm guessing it will probably be by more than 50%, but we'll say 50%.  So now they only serve 525 entrees.  That's 25 entrees they don't have to fix every night, on every ship.  That's a savings.

 

Yes, all of my numbers are made up.  But it's a theory on why they may have made the rule.  Agree or disagree, it's still Royal's right to decide how they run a business.   

While that makes sense, you wonder how closely the kitchen follows that forecasting. Based on your hypothetical scenario, do they only make up to 625 and then stop, and then make to order each dish after that where their forecasting was off?  Or to play it safe do they still make 650?  If they still make what they were originally making then there is no cost savings as the food is still wasted.

I am guessing the bean counters at corporate think that way, but you wonder if in implementation it actually works and really does save money. 🤷‍♂️  I am guessing the cost savings is no where near what they forecasted, unless they are really monitoring it on an individual dish basis in the kitchen.

Since it was not specified as currently sailing ships 😉, I will have to say my favorites were Monarch of the Seas and Sovereign of the Seas.  These were the first two cruise ships that we sailed on RC back in the 90's and will always have a fond place in our heart.