Burlingtontownie

The information came from the owner of my Chick-Fil-A store in Massachusetts, who attended a corporate conference at the Chick-Fil-A main office. Upon his return to our store, that was the first piece of information he shared with me.

Dear Food Friends:

I have heard a rumor that RCCL has reached an agreement with Chick-Fil-A to open an on-board store/restaurant next year, ( 2020), on the "Symphony of the Seas," or a similar mega-cruise ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet.  

If true:

 This store has a policy of being "closed" every Sunday.  

Chick-Fil-A has a formal company policy for interviewing and hiring its employees.  Will this be maintainted? 

Will Chick-Fil-A's dining be part of RCCL's  dining packages, or separate?   Will prices be the same as on the mainland?

With "Johnny Rockets," on the Oasis class ships, their breakfast is free for certain hours on-board, so will Chick-Fil-A do the same and charge only for lunch and dinner?   

Will Chick-Fil-A loyalty guests continue to receive points for using the Chick-Fil-A app when they order a meal, or be able to redeem CFA points when they order a meal?

Thanks,

Burlingtontownie

Boston

Anne and I are cruising in September. Interesting to read the whole thread and hear about the early problems. It would be good to hear more about this year. Are all the excursions worth it? Is the dinner at the chateau still as good as it appears to have been last year?

 

We have done one Viking cruise last year on the Douro. We did that in April when the water was high and some bridges and locks impassable the week before. We started in a different port, but the captain and brilliant crew managed to change the order of ports so that we didn't miss anything, or have any extra coach journeys - brilliant.

Excursions are worth it, especially to the vineyards.

Dinner at the Chateau was more than well worth it.

Wished we could have brought back some wine, or have it shipped home but because we are from the dreaded Commonwealth of Massachusetts, nothing could be shipped home for us.

You will have a great enjoyable cruise.

Joan and I have a cruise coming up next week for Bordeaux on the Viking Forseti-and we should be packed and ready to go next Friday evening from Boston. We are letting Viking handle all the air, hotel and transfers from the airport to the ship to Paris.

In addition to the cruise we have added 3 days in Paris at my wife's request. While in Paris we will be staying at the Meridian Etoille, which is fairly close to the Arc de Triomphe. However, Joan wants to go to Notre Dame, and I would like to go to Chartres and the Louvre. I really do not know the distances from that hotel to where we want to go downtown. If we have to take taxis in Paris, I really do not want to carry a lot of Euros around , but I know we will need to pick up some Euros now that they are almost at par/ even with the American dollar. Any suggestions? Do the cabs take credit cards. I want to try to avoid taking a lot of Euros.

Thank you,

Frank and Joan Landry

Burlington, Ma.

On some past cruises on different cruise lines, I have noticed that the representation from the cruise lines has varied as follows:

On Royal Caribbean Brilliance one minor officer, one entertainment director, who arrived a bit late, thanked us, conducted a brief raffle, and left fairly quickly no information on new ships, or upcoming cruises.

On Royal Caribbean Allure --2 stage entertainers who thanked us, no officers, brief information on future cruises, a raffle.

On the Celebrity Reflection, 10 ships officers including the Captain, raffle, open forum for questions, opportunity to discuss ports and tours.

Norwegian Cruise lines Breakaway, Jewel, Epic.--Full complement of ship's officers, Captain to Ship's medical officer, who thanked guests, open forum for questions.

Only on the Celebrity Reflection and Norwegian cruises did I note the presence of someone described as a "Loyalty Ambassador" to give a presentation of benefits of continued loyalty to a specific cruise line and its ships and programs.

Are some cruise lines resting on their laurels? Might be a good Lido Deck questionnaire topic.

I did not know that "Chef's Tables" was available on Carnival Cruise Lines or Norwegian. I thought it was limited to Royal Caribbean, and so I was surprised to see the negative comments.

I guess "Chef's Tables" should be a concept function that is not limited to RCCL.

I did attend a "Chef's Tables" type of program on the Norwegian Spirit a couple of years ago, but it was called the "Enchanted Dinner" and it took place in the Park West art gallery. It was just a gourmet dinner with a wine and spirits paring. No souvenir items were given away. The food was great and the service was excellent. My wife and I had a great time and we took a lot of pictures that were posted on another Roll Call board.

I guess it all depends on the reputation of the cruise line and what is actually going to be served and where it will take place that determines the success or failure of "Chef's Tables," and the concept is NOT limited to one cruise line or a specific class of ships. { Oasis and Allure}

I do not know if RCCL was the first to offer a "Chefs Tables" concept event, and I may be very biased, but it seems that when Carnival tries to copy something from RCCL it does not exactly come out the same.

FRL