ktbr11crs

The Diamond Event has free wine, champagne, soda and I think beer. Plus you get 25% off cocktails. This is as opposed to the lounge where basic cocktails are free. Also, on many ships the lounge has hot appetizers while the event has nuts or trail mix.

I've noticed the same thing. Once my mom just wanted more asparagus from an entree, and they gave her the whole entree again. I'm pretty sure they just plates of all the food in the back, and your server just picks up the plate. Also, they do toss out all of the food from each service. So don't worry about people ordering extra and not finishing it, because it would have been tossed out anyway.

 

There's something else that I thought was weird, wondering if anyone else had this experience. We did the late seating and often times we weren't able to order extra of something because our server told us the kitchen throws out everything at 9:15pm, which I think is really early. I mean, by the time you get your entree it is at least 9pm, and then you think you want another serving of that shrimp or something but it's all gone. Especially for lobster night, we would have gladly eaten several, but after our second one, he said the kitchen is now closed. Some in our party even ordered several at the beginning, but later when they wanted more, the kitchen was closed. On our Celebrity cruise, this was never an issue. You could even order more appetizers after your entree if you wanted during second service.

We always have second seating and have never heard the kitchen was closed. We don't typically order more later in the meal, but haven't heard that response to any of our tablemates either.

One thing we always do is ask for an extra plate of vegetables to share. They are alway great about doing this, and having more of the wonderful steamed vegetables probably keeps us from ordering too many desserts!

We love formal nights and actually dress up most nights. However, I don't expect everyone to dress up and would rather see people enjoying their vacation than worrying about formal attire.

We're not really concerned about paying extra for luggage because my cocktail dresses are smaller and lighter than other informal alternatives, and my BF packs so light that even the addition of his suite and dress shoes don't put him over one checked bag.

It makes it really special for us to dress up because we don't do it at home much. Back when I dressed for work every day with a suit, nylons and heels maybe I wouldn't have looked forward to dresses on the cruise so much, but now that we're casual (& comfortable!) at work, it's more special to dress up on cruises.

Something sure has to change. On TA's and repo cruises you have close to 900 or more D, D+ & PC on the ship. They obviously can't all fit in the DL& CL but they sure do try.

 

Regardless of level changes that may or may not be made, I see the CL going gold card only, DL going D+ or above for cocktail hours and drink vouchers for the D's.

 

MY OPINION ONLY BASED ON - MY OPINION.

Yes, it's all speculation and opinion for now, but I agree with yours. I like that they have been planning ahead and adding Diamond Lounges to all the ships, and having vouchers for D's seems like a good option. Overall, it feels like they are trying to take care of all their loyal passengers.

I really love the Concierge Club on Oasis & Allure; we'll miss it, but I could definitely understand if they change it to only Suites & Pinnacles.

We like April or May for our Spring cruise and September or October for our Fall cruise. There are great deals because the kids are in school and the weather is nice.

People are surprised that we don't usually go in Winter to get away from the cold up here in MN, but it would be too stressfull. During one December cruise we took, we got 16 inches of show in one storm, and I was stressed out at the idea of getting home about midnight and not even being able to pull into my driveway. Fortunately a wonderful friend came over and cleared it all out!!

If you can reserve them online and know when you would like to go, I would recommend reserving them. You might be able to go without reserving them, but personally I like not having to worry about it once I'm on the ship.

Enjoy your cruise!!

Tanzanite tanzanite tanzanite...lol

 

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We agree completely, and will add all the other colored precious gems to the list! We have bought some great pieces that have appraised for 2 - 3 times what we paid when we got home. Fortunately my BF has a great eye for gem stones :D; I don't think I would have felt comfortable buying them without his advice.

We don't do beaches, so shopping for jewelry for me and watches for him is fun when we're in St. Maarten or St. Thomas, and recently more ports are getting some great jewelry shopping (dangerous!).

Other ports it's all about the history so we hit museums, forts, cathedrals, etc.

We always have 2nd seating and these are a couple reasons we really like this idea; in addition to just having more options.

The CL tends to be really busy before early seating in the MDR, we would now tend to relax in a different bar and let the people with early seating enjoy the CL more. When our show is early, we could have a cocktail at the show.

clwnmt2 - I just had to respond again when I noticed your location! I'm from Waterford, WI!! I currently live in MN, but grew up in Waterford & graduated from WHS in 1979. My whole family has relocated so I never get back there, but I still have great memories.

We agree; it's always sad when the cruise ends. We deal with it by typically doing B2B's; 2 weeks is about right for us and it's easier to go home after that. I also love to plan ahead and typically book future cruises as soon as the itineraries come out. We have 6 booked now and I'm having a hard time not booking for Fall of 2014, but we want to wait and hear about Quantum! It makes it a little easier to get off the ship if we already have the next one (or 6) booked.

We were on FOS for the 8/5 & 8/12 B2B cruises. I was especially excited about the timing of the new menus because my entire family joined us for the 8/5 cruise. Several of them have cruised before, but none with Royal Caribbean. We love Royal and wanted it to be really special for the family.

A few of my family members live in Chicago and always find the most amazing restaurants. They really appreciate good food, and I was so happy to hear that they enjoyed the MDR dinners. There were 13 of us with a wide range of preferences, and everyone found items they liked.

I love seafood and order it most of the time, but even I ended up ordering something else a couple nights because it sounded so good. I was never disappointed.

Someone had asked earlier if the savory bites were still available, I don't remember seeing the answer so I wanted to let you know they were in the breadbasket every night.

It's great to hear that the odor isn't really an issue!! Our next cruise will be on Explorer; I wasn't overly concerned, but it is always nice to hear good news!

Thanks!!

I agree! We've been anxiously awaiting the official announcement and are very happy with the results. We love cruising with Royal, and it just keeps getting better.