I&J Cruisers

We enjoy sitting at a table with others when we dine. It's part of the cruise experience for us, meeting new people and enjoying their company every night. I would miss this experience. We usually book suites so this might be a problem for us.

I whole heartedly agree with you. We always enjoyed traditional dining. The problem today is that the pool of people that are choosing that option is steadily shrinking. We cruise on Regent when we can which isn't often. We find their open seating excellent. They always ask if you want to share ot would prefer a table for 2. Everyone is always very friendly and we've met many comparable people on those cruises, much more so than we do these days on X. If you usually book suites you should check it out. When you add in what you are actually spending on everything connected with the cruise the price is. Not that far apart. We don't usually book suites which is why we don't do Regent all the time.

Wonderful. All this negative talk had me worried. Thanks.

Does cafe al baccio still have almond croissants.

IMO the cruise lines will continue to push the envelope until they feel the pushback from their customers. X continues to be our mass market line of choice. We cruise the"luxury" lines when we can but can't afford to do that as often as we like to cruise and it's always a wonderful experience. Very reminiscent of what cruising was like in the 80's and early 90's. While I'm not crazy about the. current model the mass market lines are using, X has a solid product and Aqua class suits us well. It is true however that if you usually book suites the difference between the cost of a regent cruise and X taking into account the money you spend on board for air etc. the price is close. So if you are always booking suites on. Or any other mass market line I urge you to try it. You'll think you died and went to heaven.

We just returned from a British Isles Norway and Denmark cruise. We didn't get an upgrade offer until 2 days before. It's only Tuesday. Don't give up hope. Ship and crew were wonderful as always. Enjoy,!!!

Thanks for your answers. We are long time X cruisers. Took an allure cruise last summer only because X had no ships sailing out of Florida. It was a quick getaway because we live about 40 minutes from the port. I was surprised that RCL's offered both. You are all correct. Very few people in the lounge because of the drink packages. This will be our first X cruise since and wondered if both lines now had the same policy. Guess not.

Planning a December cruise on Reflection. Last time I was on allure they loaded vouchers each day to our key cards as well as having access to the lounge. Does X do that as well. It was nice having a choice of where to ha e our pre dinner cocktails. Not essential but it was a nice touch.

I LOVE Blu, but after our Eclipse TA a few weeks ago, I can't imagine any reason that suite guests would prefer Blu over Luminae.....we went to Blu once over 16 nights and it was as good as ever but just saw no reason to do it again because Luminae really is JUST THAT GOOD.........assume suite guests on Reflection are finding the same thing.....

Gracie. I know you,be always been a Blu cheerleader which gives a lot of wight to what you are saying. We just booked a December 5th cruise on Reflection. Hoping that Luminae will take some of the pressure off the crowding in Blu. Will have to try a suite one of these days to experience the new venue.

The cruise lines are getting carried away. Over nites in a port are an excuse to decrease the entertainment budget. There is never much going on on the ship when it is in port late at night. If they keep playing this game there won't be any difference between "resort cruising" and going to a land resort. This trend will never be reversed unless they see a decrease in business.

There are always exceptions but I've never seen those restaurants sold out. You may have to be flexible about your dining times. Sometimes there are discounts offered if there is a lot of availability.

I've been following by our travels for several years, starting with your first world cruise. Thank you again for allowing us to tag along. You never disappoint

Irene

Sorry Lucruise you are absolutely right. The introduction of specialty restaurants had a major negative effect of the quality of MDR food. While the food in the MDR is fine it's not what I'm looking for or satisfied with. I think we are going to see further downgrades of the product in the future.

Luxuriate. You area solutely

I agree with everyone regarding the decline in quality in the MDR of all mass market ships. We have to make up our minds. Do we want fine dining or cheap cabins. The two are mutually exclusive. We have been cruising since 1983 and have experienced many changes. The cruise product we fell in love with all those years ago still exists but at much higher prices. We can't always afford Regent or Oceania but when we do it is always a 5 star experience. On mass market lines we eat in speciality restaurants but we've been noticing that even these are often not as good as they used to be. The cruise lines are businesses. They exist to make money. They cut corners and sell you anything they think you will buy to make up for the low price of cabins. They have to make their profit somewhere. I do miss traditional dining and leisurely dinners. The high end lines have beautiful buffets with many high end choices for those that want to eat quickly

Hi Sharon. We do have a roll call for this cruise. Only 3 couple so far. Please join us. We are Irene and Joe from South Florida. We are spending the night of June 5th in London at the Mayfair Hotel and taking a Regent shuttle to the ship on June 6th. It is also our 3rd Regent cruise and our /no on Voyager.

Irene

Anyone remember where the muster station is for y.c. Cabins. Just wondering the logistics of getting back to the yacht club after muster in the theater where most are held these days.

Where is lunch served on embarkation day

Thank you. Everyone has been so helpful here and it has been a long time since we've been newbies.

Sorry about that I hit send by mistake. Do you check your luggage first and go to the yacht club tent with your carry ons or do you bring all your luggage with you

Hi all. I have another question. Regarding checkin do you check your luggage first and go to the yacht clun

My DH would love to visit the worlds largest radio telescope at Aricibo. We will be docking in San Juan on a day when it is open this time. Does anyone ha e experienced tour guide in San Juan that can get us there and back while the ship is there. We've never docked in San Juan. Before on a day when it is open for visitors.

Thank you for the information.

We are sailing March 7 on Divina in 15016 a standard yc1. Can any one tell me if there are any drawers in the desk to store makeup and my hair tools. I can't tell from the pix I've seen.

Happened to us once. We emailed our TA and it was corrected the next day.

On mass market cruise lines they require all occupants of a cabin to purchase the various packages. Could that be the difference. It's also assuming that you are booking a jr suite or higher. It doesn't work with balcony,ocean view or inside cabins