NutsAboutGolf

There isn't a lot of value in many aspects of cruising, could charge an a la carte price for all food items, by the OZ at the buffet, for pool loungers, etc... Internet is important many reasons but two big ones are cruise lines chief competitor are land resorts which have fast reliable wifi and crew welfare who may only have a short break and want to connect with their loved ones back home

In the Carib, yes...In the Med/Europe it's 7 nighters...However, their itineraries seems to have more sea days than other lines; skimmed a few 7 nighters and it's only 4 ports

If they're available they'll appear as an option in the category of "Veranda", they're not their own category...Visual aid:

There really isn't a night to print your boarding pass in advance as you can do so at the airport and if you're checking luggage you'll need to go to the ticketing counter anyways. Same with checking-in unless you're on one of the few airlines that offer free seat selection during check-in or southwest

To the OP, check the airline rules to know ahead of time what happens if you miss your flight

I've done a lot of research and found RometoLimo on the high end as they want 170 Euros (about $186 USD currently) each way (port to FCO) plus gratuities. Transfeero was about $138 USD all in

I've skimmed a few threads...All I can find is folks complaining out slow service. Have you seen complaints about the food quality and/or taste?

Can't forget about the kids filet assuming one is lucky enough to be able to order it (seems to not be on all ships)...If you order a dry Caesar (don't eat the croutons) and a couple of kid filets you could be in and out for dinner in an half hour

Valid; was stating the E-Class in general but did not point that out. Only on the Beyond, will be on the Ascent and probably the Excel/Vertex

Most were already booked while most of our new bookings are on another line. Really want to try Virgin which I know will have the best food at sea from a "big" cruise line but the itineraries aren't inspiring as we've visited most ports they go to

While the crew will utilize it during overnight hours, its almost never used during the daytime. With a regulation basketball court, you could safely fit three pickleball courts. Technically four fits but it wouldn't be safe since out of bounce would be the next court

After talking to a lot of the parents of these kids, the majority aren't even regular passengers, rather children of the crew and their significant others

They usually have physical signs with family hours posted in the solarium

Good point with specialties, with tipping it's just under $65/person and its really hard to make on board reservations before 830pm. To add another example with chains being better, the Cheesecake Factory, my WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) is at least 75% of passengers if given a choice between dinner in X's MDR or a dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, they would pick the latter

I'd have no problem with $10/day for improved food yet before we know it they'll charge $20/person and degrade the food quality as it appears X has zero interest with improving the complimentary MDR food quality...Another way to do this is to do what CCL and RCI have done for over a decade...With dinner offer premium items at an upcharge (still offer complimentary lobster one night)...CCL was $23 + tip for a Maine lobster tail and a petite filet...CCL's filet is better than X's kids filet (seems hard to find nowadays) and even Blu's filet and obviously CCL's Maine lobster tail is better than X's spiny lobster tail...Also once on board X, for us non-suite peasants, it's quite difficult to get a specialty dinner reservation before 830pm

Just sharing a datapoint, BCC bookings were eligible ever sine the restart (I had to reach out to the exec team for my July 2021 sailing). The BCC themselves would tell you it isn't (false) and there was nothing they could do about it (true). Only the move up email you listed can make it eligible

Cooking the food isn't the challenge, X has been around nearly 35 years and surely figured it out decades ago. The challenge is evading food cost cuts which makes the food less tasty

I cannot stand In and Out fries, they don't wash off the starch...5 guys figured it out where they cut the fries then "power wash" the starch off

Whataburger is good, if you can find a location...Same with In and Out yet Gordon regularly visits CA

It's a good thing many of us do not cruise for the food... Comparing chains to cruise food seems to be a "trigger" for some who wrongly assume once they're on board they're dining in a Michelin starred restaurant...It's okay to admit one likes the taste of Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits...Even celebrities like Gordon Ramsey have a favorite chain which is In and Out Burger...I would happily take an In and Out burger over whatever they're serving at the Mast Grill

You get five star service and MDR food quality that's below a standard chain restaurant. Many will stigmatize chains but even where I live in L.A. where you can get high quality food, it can be near impossible to walk into an Olive Garden, Red Lobster or Texas Roadhouse at dinner time on a Friday or Saturday night without a reservation. If you like lasagna, alfredo, chicken parm, Olive Garden makes it all far better than X; if you like steak, Outback/Longhorns/Texas Roadhouse blows away X's classic sirloin. I love X's french onion soup but the Outback simply makes it better. You can probably pick any item on X's MDR dinner menu and find a chain that makes the item better

Unfortunately if you even receive a refund or discount off another tour, it's more than likely to get you to go away vs them talking to the tour operator

While I'd be annoyed if they're "in the way" but usually they move quickly or at most spend a few seconds at each dish

My WAG (Wild A$$ Guess) is that many live in FL, are semi-retired or fully retired, got dropped off at the ship and will fly home from LA. For many, myself included, getting that much time off work would be difficult and I wouldn't want spend it on a sailing with so many seadays. However, if one is allowed to work remotely from the ship on seadays, it would be an attractive option for some including myself since you wouldn't need to burn 2+ weeks of vacation time

Dang...