cruisegirl1

If you have a specific restaurant that you want to visit, I would book it in advance. In addition to getting your preferred date/time, sometimes restaurants are discounted in the cruise planner. Your situation is called a side-by-side cruise. Getting off one ship, and getting onto another. It is not uncommon, but I do not believe Royal Caribbean will provide you transportation from an RCCL ship to a Celebrity ship. A taxi/Uber would be a good choice. However, I suggest asking the concierge or guest services if they can assist you or what they recommend. Have fun, Symphony is a terrific ship. m

Loyalty status has nothing to do with a royal up decision. For Royal Up, a Pinnacle cruiser has no advantage over someone on their first cruise. it is all some computer based matrix m

Wouldn’t you know prior to the ship leaving port? m

No, but that’s what my time dining basically allows you to do. You can go anytime any night. m

The UDP is valid for lunch on embarkation day. m

If I recall, it seems the "celebration" items were given out on some early 2023 (Jan-March) cruises. Haven't seen or heard of any recent "celebration" gifts since then. M

Keep a watch on the MDR embarkation day hours. MARINER is opening MDR for lunch on embarkation day. So far I believe it is the only ship doing this, but maybe other ships will follow. We sailed Mariner, several times in the past few months and main dining room was open for lunch. It is not widely publicized, but it is the app. It also may be a function of the Hotel Director,/F&B manager so if that changes, so could MDR lunch on embarkation day. m

I think the ship date reference is a good idea. Perhaps they want to handle them in some sort of cruising date order to answer cruises that are close to sail date. I laugh when I see posts asking about requesting a window table for late seating in the wintertime. It will be dark, and the curtains closed. We had a lovely window table a few cruises ago (didn’t requested, that’s what was assigned by the my time staff) bit even though it was daylight at dinner time, the curtains were closed.

I was told pretty much the exact story several months ago on Wonder. It could be the truth or the company scripted response. M

Most of my upcoming cruises are NOT showing any menus for the, MDR or specialty restaurants. A few random cruises still have them on the app. I'm glad to know it is likely not an issue specific to me. M

Seems that currently this is not standard practice. M

Not a fair comparison. Suite deck has WAY FEWER passengers than what passes through Park Cafe and is not considered an eating venue. No one goes to the suite deck to get food. There are a few snacks ( chips/fruit cups) put out during the day for the comfort of suite guests. Sometimes there are only a handful of passengers using the deck. M

Yup - saw all of that. I felt badly for those who don't cruise often, as they really had bad cruise luck. We met the couple who were to be married on Labadee. They were so laid back about missing the port and made the best of the situation. We were B2B with May 8 and there was a helicopter evac on Labadee. M

You'll have to wait till a bar opens, usually around 11AM. But after that go for it. M

This is correct. We were told to park in T5, they shuttled us to T1 for boarding. At the end of the cruise the ship docked at T5. We were on as well. m

We’ve had recent cruises on Mariner (one in April and B2B in May) and they have opened the MDR (deck 3) on embarkation day to anyone. Menu is somewhat limited and includes just a few apps, entrees and desserts. It is NOT the same menu offered to the Key guests. m

If someone wants to bother with bringing a case of water or soda, that is fine with me. We usually bring a special bottle of wine that we want to enjoy one evening. M

If I have the dining package and go specialty every night, what happens to the daily gratuity I've paid to the regular dinner dining staff for the week? Remember I'm not using the dining room for dinner. Is it transferred to the wait staff where I dine? If I have this right, I've paid the daily gratuity (for dining staff including dinner), was charged 18% gratuity on the dining package price, and then tip staff each meal as well. Is this the norm? We've only had the package once and left additional at the restaurants. M

Was watching a story on the news about the pool chair issue at land resorts. No chair saving allowed. And a casino resort we visit now charges $25/day to "rent" a pool chair. Not sure if high level casino players get one for free, we don't. Surely Liberty has thought of this as well. M

I’ve heard of that pre Covid but don’t think it is successful since the return to sailing. m

Yes, non-bottled drinking water is readily available for everyone. It is available at every dining venue, at any bar, and at the coffee stations. m

We've never had any issue ordering what we want from the room service menu. M

Royal has nothing to do with parking rates, on site or off site. Most off-site parking lots also change for an extra day. 8 days of parking for a 7 night cruise (sadly) is standard. M

You were denied complementary coffee on the last morning because the vouchers are not applicable that morning. Vouchers now cut off at 5AM. I don't understand why you were annoyed with a staff person following the rules they were provided. Those who received a voucher beverage on debarkation morning were lucky as they are no longer applicable after 5AM. M

At the very least, you will get a piece of cake with a candle, and the waiters will sing happy birthday have fun