alyssamma

Menu from the diner...

Ok, went to deck 8 and found out the deal...for this cruise and the last one, because of "high volume", whatever that means...on sea days they are the same as the MDR. And when I ate there it was a sea day. On the other days they are the American Diner.

Furthermore, they are aware they don't show up in the app (which is why I couldn't find them) and they've talked to IT about it (lol, sure that will be fixed REAL soon)

The menu looks good ..all day breakfast, wings, burgers etc.

And they are open during the day for lunch 

I'm going to try and do dinner there tomorrow.

Wow...I didn't think things could be this confusing, but obviously they are.

32 minutes ago, telcom said:

Yes.  Went there this morning for pancakes and bacon.  They even made me gluten free pancakes.  A dinner selection chosen from last night's Italian night was on the menu... probably changes every night.  Rest of menu stays the same.  No line to get in 10:30 AM.  Deck 7 dining room reservation for 4 at 7:20 PM...no line or a short line only.  Food very good, including one dinner at Rudi's.  Alfredo's lunch on sea day...no line around 11:30...good GF pizza.  One odd thing, no OJ on ship in Americana Diner today or last 2 days on in-room breakfast.

 

Ship has higher energy vibe.  Stood in line for Dome show but now we have tickets for next one there, Patter told where to go to get them, DH got 4...hallway outside a bar, don't know which one.

You are on the ship now? Have you eaten on deck 8 for dinner and gotten a different menu? I mean actually eaten there and not just seen a menu.

I'm going to go up there tonight before dinner and see what they are serving...

1 minute ago, dog said:

Fb passenger on now ate in American diner at noon and menu was different then other 2 dining rooms.

So, you can’t count on what you get.

Interesting...wonder if it is just a lunch thing? Can you see if they've had a different dinner?

For this cruise, all 3 decks...6, 7, 8, all serve the normal MDR food

Edit: Just spoke to guest services...was told they sometimes have the American diner and sometimes don't. I can say every night on this cruise there was no deck 8 dining option in the app. I can also say I got 4 different answers from guest services about how tendering would work in Santorini and none of them matched the actual reality of what happened.

So my advice, get on the ship and see what experience you have lol

13 minutes ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

That would make sense but what doesn't make sense is that you mentioned the food on deck 8 was the same and on a previous live the American Diner menu was posted and cruisers were making mention of the great banana split dessert.

I also thought this was the case. However, at least on this sailing, it isn't so.

It is definitely confusing...here is what it says for deck 6. Note  in the app it only has decks 6 and 7... no mention of 8. You can see it says fixed time, but also says walk ins welcome.

Below that is what the app shows...only decks 6 and 7. I found 8 when exploring the ship. I could swear I read somewhere that it had a different menu  but I ate there for dinner and it was the normal MDR menu.

1 hour ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Yea, I fully agree.  Probably just a vocal minority of old time cruisers that want things the way it used to be back in the day before Dine My Way came into play.  Even if they did accept some walk-ins that were an overflow from deck 7, they should have to be hustled out by the time late seating began since the seats they are in are already supposed to be occupied by someone else for the second seating.

It's possible because things are so new they are in flux. It's also possible they only have a set number...say half...of their capacity with fixed dining times so can handle walk ins.

1 hour ago, Retired-N-Happy said:

Don't know how this could work.  First of all, deck 8 is American Diner with it's own special menu.  Deck six consists of two seatings, currently set at 500 and 730 which could be shifted once the ship relocates to the Caribbean.  If you show up at 630 on deck six, there aren't going to seat you until 730 unless they are just blowing smoke about it being traditional seating.

Deck seven is Dine My Way, consisting of a combination of reservations as well as walk in.  If you're doing walk in, expect a wait, unless you show up before six or after eight and even then there could be a wait depending how the flow is on that day.

So...this was my understanding but it is not how it works. I've eaten on 8 and the menu is the exact same.

Also, as mentioned, the wait is very minor...we normally eat around 730.

6 minutes ago, LAS!!1414 said:

Did you happen to notice if soup was available ???

My wife said there was soup...but only one kind...and she doesn't remember the type unfortunately 

25 minutes ago, LAS!!1414 said:

Did you try the Eartery ??

You mean for dinner? No...but I did for lunch one day.

12 minutes ago, 555 said:

Thanks for the review and I agree that the ship layout does seem confusing. We're booked on it but unless I'm totally impressed I doubt if we'll return for a second cruise.

 

I've read that the seating in the Dome is very limited and people begin to line up hours before showtime. Do you recall what times the shows were?

 

We were totally happy with the Royal class ships and will probably stick with them in the future. 

So, it is a little confusing. They do the Arena (basically the theater), the Piazza (the atrium) and Live (right next to the atrium). Shows in Live are USUALLY 2x per day at 7 and 9 and in the Arena at 8 and 10. But things switch. For example, the woman last night in the arena is tonight in the Piazza. And some production shows are in the Piazza (they have things that come down from the ceiling). And they do game shows all night in both Live and the Piazza. It's actually a mess in Live because people are rushing in for one show right as the previous show ends because there is no gap.

Another thing I forgot to mention...laundry is free. But there are only 2 machines on each deck so it can be crowded.

21 minutes ago, Steelers36 said:

Except I can see them seating random guests where the regular TD guests did not show or are off to another dining option.

Yes, you can eat on 6 without assigned dining times.

2 hours ago, cynbar said:

But I thought deck 6 was for the traditional , early and late seatings? Can we just turn up there anytime and expect to be seated? Or, can we turn up there shortly before one of the 2 start times and get a table? Can any posters here chime in on whether they have tried this and how it went? I hesitate to sign up for one of the fixed seatings because we do want to try 2-3 of the specialty restaurants and maybe O'Malley's too. But we are traveling with a 9 year old who may not do well with long lines, congested waiting areas, etc. Do they still give you a beeper so you can at least walk around while waiting? We have done anytime dining with Princess before and it was never a problem, but the Sun sounds different in many ways.

So ..deck 6 is listed that way, but that is the only deck that has separate lines for reservation and no reservation. It's a little confusing 

Oh, one other thing since it is asked so many times. I took 100 in non-refundable OBC, played blackjack for a few hands and cashed out 85 with zero problems.

5 hours ago, cynbar said:

Thanks for taking the time to write, we sail June 15th. Do you have any input on lines to get into the MDR for dinner? Someone posted on FB today (with pictures) about incredibly long lines about 7:30, even for those with reservations. It has us a little worried, especially since we can't make any reservations at all yet. We have absolutely no interest in the diner food available on deck 8, and that takes up a third of the MDR space. I'd love to know if those lines are the norm --- any info you have on this will be much appreciated. Standing in a long line for dinner every night is not my idea of a relaxing vacation. Really looking forward to the Sun despite the issues we keep hearing about, 2 months after launching.

There are 3 decks to the MDR. The first night we tried deck 6 and the lines were long. We went to deck 7 and got in relatively quickly (maybe 10min). Last night we tried Deck 8 at about 720. We waited maybe 15min total, but 10min of those were because no one was manning the station to seat people.

My advice is, if there is a line on one deck, just go to one of the other decks.

But even on our first night and deck 6, the line seemed to move quickly.

The good: cabin is simply amazing. We have an inside (only other time had a cabin class lower than balcony was a couple of times in MSC Yacht Club). I was worried because the dimensions are small, but this is one of the best cabins I've ever been in. Shower and bathroom are (cruise) spacious, lots of closet and other storage space, a zillion hangers, and really nice touches. For example, when you get up from bed a small night light comes on under the nightstand and in the bathroom.

The look of the ship is stunning. Nice colors, very pretty.

Staff is mostly very nice and friendly.

The few shows I have seen were good. Not the best, but I'd say a solid B+

The average: Food is hit or miss. Nothing has been bad, but tends towards average instead of great.

Cruise director. Eh. A little annoying to me, but ymmv. Regardless, I'd say she's in the middle of CDs I've experienced.

The bad: the layout is simply the worst I've ever seen. It's so bad I could never sail this ship again. Princess Live, where they have comedy and enrichment shows is completely open, so not only do you hear the crowds walking by, but you also very clearly hear whatever is going on in the central atrium part of the ship. Which leads to...

The Piazza. Great to look at, but three levels with limited chairs means every show they have there requires people to stand. There are about 3x as many people standing as sitting.

Lastly, I hate that they funnel you through the shops or casino to get to the important parts of the ship.

@FlorenceItaly love the handle. It's funny because I am heading there right now. On my way to the airport... Stopping in Holland for a few days but will be in Florence on Monday. 

So, deposits are back to $3500 for the cruise I booked. The price is the exact same. To me, this was a great deal.

23 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

I was curious so I looked at the March 22,2025  HAL cruise  on Koningsdam under the $2 deposit & the price for a veranda state room  is $2728.00 . when I nooked it with HAL ,it was $2118 .00 & mY TA got it for us @ $1986 .00 with $300 un on board credit 7 vthat is not uet counting the $100 we get from our CCL stock 

 

Hmm so it seems that the $2 deposit sale has some higher prices 

 

 

So what you just gave is an example of why this is all a pretty meaningless discussion 🙂

With or without "sales" "reduced deposits", etc., prices fluctuate. The real test would be what was the price Tuesday and what was the price Wednesday.

But even then, some prices will go up and others down...

12 minutes ago, TRLD said:

Trap them into higher prices. too funny. According to you they are either all going to cancel and not use the bookings causing the cruise line to resell the cabins at lower fares or are too stupid to cancel the $2 dollar booking and rebook if the fares drop before final payment.

 

 

For my personal experience, the price was the same on 2/2 when I originally looked at this cruise. The only difference now is I paid $2 instead of $3500 to hold it.

I have no intention of cancelling the cruise. I also plan to rebook/refare if the price drops.

13 minutes ago, aborgman said:

"Wi-Fi calling can also be understood by the fact that calls made over Wi-Fi use the Voice over the Internet (VoIP) protocol instead of the Voice over LTE network (VoLTE) protocol. To help you understand this better, apps like WhatsApp, Skype, and Facebook Messenger also use the VoIP network to make calls."

This is a correct, but misleading. The distinction being made by @mz-s is the same distinction that Carnival makes. Carriers do this too. For example, I can be anywhere in the world, connected to wifi, and call anywhere else in the world on WhatsApp for free.

However, if I am on that *same* wifi network and make a wifi carrier call, it will be free if I call the USA, but will cost me if I call another country.

So, yes, the underlying protocols are the same, but the way they are used is different. The OP here clearly meant carrier based wifi calling. That appears to be blocked now (always?) by Carnival. Other types of wifi calling are not.

11 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

You can say whatever you want but words matter. It is prudent for us to use the same terminology and definitions as Carnival when we are talking about Carnival's products and procedures to avoid confusion.

 

Again, Carnival blocks Wifi calling which is provisioned by cellular carriers. Whatsapp is not wifi calling and is therefore not blocked. Yes, you can use Whatsapp or Facetime to place audio calls but they are not carrier-provisioned wifi calling calls and you cannot use Whatsapp to call a landline phone number, which is what most people are interested in if they're asking for wifi calling.

 

There are ways to make calls to landlines over Carnival's wifi - but that is outside of the scope of this discussion I think. No sense in muddying the waters unnecessarily. 

This distinction is correct...

15 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

You haven't done wifi calling on Carnival, at least. Other lines don't block wifi calling.

I still believe I have...but maybe it was a while ago. Looking through CC shows some people who've had success.

6 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

WhatsApp, Facetime, etc., is not the same thing wifi calling. Carnival only blocks wifi calling.

I said I've made wifi *and* WhatsApp calling.

Edited: Maybe I'm mistaken, lol. But I could have sworn I did it...looking at other posts here it does seem to be blocked, so I have to be misremembering...