HappyTexan44

I can see the utility of this. Previous job I used to stay in hotels 180-ish nights a year, mostly short trips. I used to request rooms close to the elevator because after a long day of work I'd zone out walking down the hallway and 1/3 of the time pass my room. If decorating hotel room doors were a thing, I'd have totally done it.

per delivery order.

I am one of those price-conscious new cruisers. I don't know if I'll like it so why pay $$$ if it turns out I'm just not a cruising-type person. That said, I'm happy with the price. Feb 2024, Voyager out of Galveston, 5-night, $1600 for two rooms and four people. So, $400/pp for 5 nights. Promenade Interior. I also fully expect the 2023 and 2024 prices to be higher than those for sale 2021 and early 2022. More people willing to cruise without restrictions.

I hate to think what it tastes like if it is premade. It is possible, that is what Red Lobster does, or at least they did at one time.

I am like you, my cruise is a mere 448 days away and I'm a planner. The only thing showing that I can buy is the sub excursion in Cozumel, and we aren't doing that.

Hidden duck locations? One of good mom friends is an experienced cruiser. She talked about the joy her kids had in hiding a ton of the ducks they'd personalized. That would make for a lot of disappointed adults. Although, 'later' doesn't exactly make sense, when later? A room makes sense, because if they have the sign and they are in the room ...

They would learn quickly if instead of a list of things to do, they watched people. There are some differences in body language like a head nod can mean yes or no, depending. But a grimace or a smile always mean the same thing no matter where you are from. The OP even though reluctant to speak up, being Canadian, you know had a face of dread every time someone approached the table and it wasn't to take an order or clear the table. In Texas, iced tea at meals is a big thing. Some people want frequent refills, some people want to wait until they finish their tea because they've perfected the sweetness and you'll mess it up if you add more tea. No one told me this, but I observed it. Then I started the Start To Pour Then Pause method. I'd watch the reaction and it was always clearly positive or negative. I never needed to stop the conversation. I also didn't need to stop the conversation to check on the food. I just made an excuse to be nearby some minutes after food was delivered. If there was a problem, people would speak up. Drink/bread refills were handy for this. Even refills on alcohol drinks, I'd get close to each person's ear and say, "Another?" They'd nod yes or no.

Ah, 🙂 Reminds me of when I brought a 6-pack of Park brau back from Germany as a surprise for my dad. It wasn't one you could buy in America. It wasn't even that good. But Dad had fond memories of drinking it while stationed over there. It was in my carry-on and Dad picked me up at the airport. To keep the surprise I couldn't let dad take my carry-on and I had to pretend it wasn't heavy. It was!

Is that snide or genuine? And I'm paying for four 'adults' and two rooms. I'll be enjoying my wine but I don't think I'm taking advantage, particularly when the rule is to limit people more than they used to, and other lines do. Rule being usually per adult. Even then, my real advantage comes in when my husband doesn't drink wine. He'll be buying beer. I can totally see myself sharing the last of each bottle with whoever is nearby and seems nice and likes wine.

DH will be happy to learn about the pitcher of beer. He's not one to sit around a bar. But he's extremely happy to wander around with a giant mug of beer with a lid. And $18 for a pitcher isn't really bad. It is more than say a local brewpub, but not that out of line.

Can you cancel your drink package? Because regardless drink package and beer isn't worthwhile.

Well, they could provide feedback on how important is the speed of the MDR meal. For example, I've never been on a cruise, yet I can tell you that speed in MDR isn't at all important to me. But I still say that they are trying to increase the table-turnover to fit in more MTD in between the two traditional seatings.

To me it seems worthwhile to bring wine just to be able have precisely what I want and when I want it. My husband doesn't drink wine and we'll have two rooms, so I get four bottles of wine on our 5 day cruise. Bwahahahaha

Bonus is that they can't destroy the cork. I weep for that lost bottle of wine.

Please get another deferral. I know at least one Supreme Court Justice was selected for a jury. My mother once went in with the magazine from the NRA and National Enquirer for reading material, she was selected. DH once said during jury selection that he knows that cops lie and won't trust the testimony of one. They challenged him saying basically that because he was a white guy he trusted the police and was just trying to get out of the jury duty. DH said to call the DA. They selected DH and he hung the jury since the only evidence was from the arresting officer. Then they tried to charge DH for contempt of court. At that point they finally did call the DA who said, You shouldn't have selected him and he has reasons. The story ends happily. DH looked up the defendant years later. He was up on a three-strikes-you're-out and was scared straight. He was also amazed that it was a white-guy that believed him and straightened up.

I'm getting flash-backs to dining in the early 90's - maybe. There was this dining fad that you'd tip better if they acted like your best friend. I even remember the waiter sitting down at the table to chat while taking our order. I can be quite friendly. I can see us getting to know the cabin steward, for example. Towel attendants, a bartender or two are also likely. But, as a family we tend to do our own thing and then connect at meals. I'm even glad that we shouldn't have a problem getting a table for just us 4, so no strangers at the table. I don't want to become buds with the waiter. As a young-in, I was an excellent waitress and I know what makes a good one.

I see a conflict, not with what happened to the OP but the attitude excusing it. On one hand you have the excuse of the poor dears are worried about their jobs. There is such competition for these jobs. They are supporting their families at home with these jobs. If they don't get enough 10's they will be fired ... Those statements weren't all made here, but that is the general attitude when people complain about the service. Then you have "Ships are understaffed" excuse for lowered service and them trying out a skimpy MDR menu. In the thread on that skimpy menu someone pointed out all the cruise employment ads they are seeing.

I was thinking that the last group numbers called would be sometime after we had to be out of the rooms.

Well, to be fair, in places like middle of Minnesota during the 70's cottage cheese as close as you could get. So, cottage cheese was in the family recipe.

So the line is longer at the end? Urg.

With the second room, you would have thought that they'd have noticed that you had two rooms tied together. Maybe they expected to have to have to switch both reservations for free, but were just hoping to get some extra money out of you. I am curious, when you subtract the extra airfare cost, how much are you saving by agreeing to completely change cruises? Because I assume that only your cabin is free.

I love it in my lasagna, well I use canned Alfredo because that is what I first tried. I was making lasagna for guests and I didn't have enough sauce. I looked in the pantry and the only jarred sauce was 'alfredo' sauce. I used that on the top layer because I figured it would be better than nothing. My lasagna is awesome, and even the jarred white sauce made it even better. Although to be fair, I've had some miserable 'lasagna' in Europe. The worst was in Munich. I love German food but after a couple of weeks I wanted a change. So I went to an 'Italian' restaurant and ordered the lasagna. It was the lasagna noodles with browned meat hunkels and meat gravy. No diary or tomato product. Not even layered. I asked a German co-worker about it. He said, "Well, it had lasagna noodles, so it was lasagna"

Voyager. We wouldn't want to be a problem so we'll get out of wherever by whenever time required. We'll have a ton of luggage (non-negotiable) so won't be using self-assist and we'll just have some small bags with us that day. I can totally see DH, for example, being happy to snooze in the sun between time to leave the room and time to leave the ship. Are they OK with you using the pool and/or lounge chairs that morning? Are places like the library/game room open that morning? Or do they want you to stay in an open dining location then? Although maybe the pool that morning would be a bad idea since we wouldn't be able to go back to the room to shower off the pool water. But then the ship pools are probably salt water. I wonder if the gym showers are open that morning?

So, you have to be out of your room by say 8:30am. You have to be off the ship sometime later say 10 am. We will have a car so don't need to leave the boat at any particular time. The rest of the family is late-starters, and might need to chill for a bit to fully wake up. I would also like to avoid the crush of people that need to get off ASAP. So where do people hang out on the ship after they leave the room but before they debark?

Wasn't there reports of Black Friday prices showing up different (higher) in the cart.