rudeney

That is definitely true!

I wonder if someone is spoofing the "qemailserver.com" return address, because that does belong to Qualtrics. The problem is, I receive these surveys for popular companies (HP, Microsoft, Home Depot, etc.) regularly, and whenever I click on the link, Google Chrome tells me it's unsafe and it goes to some very strange website - not Qualtrics. Because of that, I have blocked qemailserver.com. I really wish that companies who use 3rd party bulk mail and survey services would have then send from their own corporate URL. This is easily done - I have used of these services and set them up to send from my company URL so my customers know it is legitimate. In today's world where The Internet is so full of scammers, I'd think most companies would want to make sure they are being obviously legitimate.

Yep, ignore the "sale" and "BOGO" crap - it's just marketing hype. Pick the package you want and add it to your cart to see the actual per-person /per-day price. The best I got for our Voyager cruise 4 weeks ago was $65 during the "Memorial Day Sale", but if often fluctuated between $75 and $65.

It is a scam. They use that same return address to send out fake survey emails from various popular companies. Just junk it.

On Voyager a few weeks ago, less than half the crew was masked and few passengers. During the All-Access tour we took, they pretty much told us they no longer had special quarantine decks and if guests test positive with no serious symptoms, they are asked to self-quarantine. We did see a few packed elevators at peak times, and shows were 75% or more filled, but other than that, it felt very un-crowded.

I think it depends on what you choose to eat. If I'm looking for a steak or properly prepared eggs, then it's not good. Roasted meats that are carved to order tend to be very good - no different than what I'd expect in a decent table-service restaurant. Fruits and most vegetables are good, too, but I have to qualify that in saying that those of us from The South are used to mushy, over-cooked vegetables.. Seafood is a mixed bag - cooked fish is not very good at all, but crustaceans are usually decent unless overcooked, but that can happed at a table service restaurant, too. Pasta, as long as it's served with noodles separate from the meats sauces, is often good. Of course non of it is as good as a "good restaurant", but I don't find the MDR food to be any better, and often times it's not as good because it can be lukewarm by the time it makes its way to the table. At least they keep the buffet foods at good temperatures.

Interesting. We had originally planned for Chops at lunch on embarkation, Giovanni's for dinner, then alternating between the two except for one night at Izumi and one in the MDR or Windjammer. When we found that Chops was not open for embarkation lunch, we had to change the pattern. Then later on, we decided we wanted more Chops and less Giovanni's and we had no problems doing that. I will mention that we were in a GS so we pre-booked all the dining reservations and had the concierge make our changes. I don't think that mattered, though, because all he did was call the maitre de at Chops and have him make the changes, and while the concierge can sometimes do a little magic, but they can't create seats where there are none. We tried to get the Chef's Table (I didn't book in advance) but could not.

The tour we recently took in Bar Harbor, ME listed w weight limit of 300lbs. It was on a "limo shuttle bus" with 14 seats that were very comfortable, but slightly narrower than the tour bus seats. I assumed the weight limit was to prevent larger passengers from taking up two seats. I know missing the tour was disappointing, but I agree with @Biker19 - you were refunded, and that's the best they are going to do. At least they did that.

None of the three specialty restaurants on Voyager were ever full. Chops was never more than 2/3 full, but I am not sure if that was because it wasn't booked, or if they were short-staffed and had all the guests they could accommodate. Giovanni's tended to be more crowded - it was usually near capacity with only a few open tables. I never saw many people in Izumi. I guess its lack of hibachi made it less popular. We did changed reservations a few times and never had a problem with that, so hopefully you will get what you want. Just go to the first specialty restaurant you see when you board and make your reservations.

I have come to realize the the MDR serves "banquet food". It's not bad, but it's not cooked to order. You get served from large pre-cooked batches. Some foods taste just fine like that, others do not. We have taken some "behind the scenes" tours and the galley operations are truly amazing. But "amazing" doesn't always equate to "delicious". The Windjammer food is prepared the same way, but being able to choose your own items makes it different. On our last 7-night cruise, we had Izumi one night, Giovanni's one night, Windjammer one night, and Chops four nights. Honestly, we could have eaten at Chops all 7 nights and would have been perfectly fine.

🤣🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

It very well might be accepted for lunch, but I wouldn't do that. It would make it much less valuable. You could pay for dinner and two lunches in Chops for less than the 3-meal package.

Earlier this month, they were serving water in typical plastic bottles. I don't recall the brand, but I don't think it was one I recognized. The tap water tasted fine to me, though we did get bottles because we had the DBP and it was convenient to grab them to take back to the room for the nightstand, on excursions, etc. BTW, to get bottled water at the bars with a beverage package, they don't even swipe your card - you just show them that it has the beverage package codes on it and they will hand you a couple of bottles. Oh, and we did the All-Access Tour where we found that the tap water is created through reverse-osmosis and the source is from drain water as well as sea water. Yes, that's right - they extract 99.9999% pure water from "used" water aboard the ship!

We were on Voyager the first of the month. My take on the food is that it was very good, but we never at in the MDR - we did UDP and all specialty restaurants, mostly Chops. We did go to the Windjammer once for dinner and most days for breakfast and it was good. Also, we enjoyed Frankie and The Dreamers. Yes, Ryan Malloy is a bit obnoxious, and I'd probably have preferred more traditional Four Seasons songs, but I thoroughly enjoyed their rendition of "Working my way back to the Windjammer" The rap song - not so much.

I experienced all the same on Voyager - Schooner was packed, poor selection, many dull bartenders, and light pours. The exception was the VK lounge. They didn't have a better selection, but the bartenders were great and pouring generously. I think the problem is not Starlink, because I have the same issue with Voom. I believe that the wifi access points they use on the ships (at least the older ones - I have no experience with Oasis or Quantum class) is not a true "mesh" system and doesn't hand-off well when you move around. I found myself switching my device's wifi off and back on each time I relocated to get a decent signal. I also had issues uploading to CC (no video -just pictures). What started doing was just taking a screen shot of the photo which cut the file size down tremendously and it would work better. With Voom on Voyager, the upload speeds were actually much faster than download, which seems to be typical of satellite Internet service.

On the Oct 2nd sailing, Chops was not open for lunch on embarkation day. I was told by the Chops staff that on Voyager, they use Chops as overflow seating for the Windjammer on embarkation day, so Giovanni's is the lunch venue that day. Even though Chops was not open, its still showed it on the app. If you don't care which restaurant you eat lunch in, then I'd just stop by Giovanni's when you embark and verify which will be open and that your reservation is in place.

Thanks for sharing, Greg! I love going along with you. I hope the shoulder gets better for you soon.

Partition door on Navigator can be opened. They are exactly like the ones on Freedom.

Not sure about Allure, but on Freedom and Voyager class it's a tiered section right there at the pool bar:

Same on our last cruise - I asked about Chef's Table reservations and his response was "You can book that in the app."

Years ago, back when MTD was initially being introduced, this is exactly what we did. It worked as it should - it was "my time", not "RCCL time". Instead of choosing 5:30 or 8:00, we did 6:30 each night, same table, same wait staff. It worked quite well.

So here's the solution to this problem. Go up to the pool deck during the late MDR seating. No one will be there so you will be free to do this. Grab a deck chair, and take it back to your room. Yeah, for those in inside rooms, it's going to be a tight fit, but it will be worth it. The next day, take it with you back up to the deck. Problem solved.

Apparently a center drain is the rage. I remodeled our master bathroom last year and replaced the old "Jacuzzi" tub with a free-standing soaker tub. Just like @#55worktoplay found, all new tubs have the drain in the middle. This was one of the most time-consuming parts of the project - cutting through the slab to relocate the drain. It looks fancy, but yep - sit in the tub and your butt presses the drain release!

It looks like someone dropped a Six Flags on top of a barge. No thanks.

We bought an adjustable bed frame from Sam's Club that includes vibration - no quarters needed! I can't go to sleep without it. Of course the motion and engine vibration on the ship is a suitable substitute.