Starry Eyes

I do that on the app.

Nah. The OP has late dining at 7:30 on Oasis, not MTD. Please understand that dining times are not standardized across the fleet. On some itineraries on some ships late dining might start at 8 pm on other ships sailing on other itineraries late dining might be at 7:30 pm. The OP is experiencing such a difference.

Yes, that report of a conversion with the EN D concierge raises the possibility they might extend that concept to other ships, even one like EN that currently do not have Royal suite program.

Or they perhaps they will sell JS’s two ways: either at a lower price without the extra amenities or at a higher price with the full suite amenities.

While the most guests are directed to the escalator, staff will direct those with wheelchairs, scooters, strollers, etc to gangway via elevators

We tend to do that, too, but sometimes one of us might like a different wine (or second glass) with the main course.

Oops. Posted in error

Over multiple cruises twice drinks have been charged to our vouchers in error. Each time one of us stopped by the Diamond Concierge’s desk and the errors were quickly corrected. I’d recommend that over guest services unless your concierge is overwhelmed by other guests. While our voucher usage in bars generally show up on the app immediately, those used in the dining room may take hours to show up on some ships some evenings. Thus we find cannot rely on the app to know how many vouchers remain, and I assume other bartenders cannot know those vouchers have been used either.

You are not rewarded points until after you complete your cruise (not day by day), so you will not be Diamond or enjoy any Diamond benefits this cruise. Next time

If having the room serviced between 4-5pm did not suit you well, did you discuss other options with your steward? We recently did a b2b (different cabins/stewards) on Odyssey. It was our first time with once a day service. We asked that the cabin be serviced in the morning. No issue. We were quite happy with the service. The rest of the ship was clean, too. There were lots of kids, and I think one should always expect the big ships to draw kids (though some sailings will draw more than others). I never liked Royal’s pizza; I do not think anyone should book for the pizza, lol.

Relax, you do not need reservations to use MTD. There will be two lines outside the MTD dining room on the ship each night. One line for people with reservations and one line for people without reservations. If you join the line for people without reservations, they will seat you. Of course, none of us can guess if the line or the wait will be short or long when you show up🤷‍♀️. If you want reservations, go to the MTD desk as soon as you board. Ask there if reservations are available at your desired times. You might be lucky; the worst you will hear is no. If you’d rather not commit to reservation times or if you cannot get them, just plan to use the no reservation line.

Do you mean you have traditional dining and want to switch to MTD? Or do you have MTD and, when hoping to make reservations, found no reservation times were available?

Don’t kid yourself. Whether or not people in CA whisper or shout, the bean counters will nevertheless notice the revenue coming from various ships.

It does sound like CA has cheaper fares right one. I hope Navigator is making up for the lower fares with solid on board revenue so the overall So Cal revenue is up to snuff, or they might be tempted to redeploy the ship.

Well, if that is the concern, post on the roll call for the cruise after yours offering to leave to mattress pad for a someone on that cruise. I bet you get a taker (or six, lol). Roll up the pad, put the recipient’s cruise date and cabin number on the mattress pad. Ask your steward to take it to that cabin. Ask the recipient to pass the pad along in hopes the chain continues while the pad in in decent shape.

Interesting. Of course, it could just be an error on the TA website.

Yes, those of us wishing the family well would like to know the outcome. Additionally, future unfortunate souls in a similar position will likely read this thread. They will really want the conclusion.

Yes, it has been fleetwide for quite a while. Keep your paper or digital set sail pass handy until you get your card, as you can use it instead. On the bright side, the check in process is much faster this way.

I don’t know what choice that should make if he is denied boarding, but thinking it does seem prudent that they think it through ahead of time. I do hope he is allowed to board.

Losing the wallet is a tough break. Perhaps he will be fortunate and will be allowed to board, but the family should probably be prepared for him to be turned away. They need to decide if mom and kids will sail without dad or if the whole family will walk if dad.cannot board. Dad should not check luggage with porters (nor the rest of the family if they will walk, too)

I had not thought about the degree of fare games you describe, though it certainly might have happened. I was only remembering that people would reserve refundable cruises and cancel them if other events/opportunities arose (or if a less expensive cruise popped up). With nonrefundable deposits, people seem much more likely to retain their cruise reservations.

The key date is when final pay is due, not when one pays it. If I elect to pay before the final payment date for my own convenience, I can still qualify for a price drop (same as if I had not yet made final payment). Such a price drop would be refunded to my credit card.

No, only on one side in our balcony cabin, as you can see.

Years ago when nearly all deposits were refundable I recall seeing some cabins (including nice choices) reappear near final payment date and sometimes price drops shortly after final payment date. Now that so many people select nonrefundable deposits, both those seem less prevalent to me.

We did not receive a response before our cruise on Jewel yet our request was fulfilled. We again did not receive a response to our email before our b2b on Odyssey, but discovered our request was not fulfilled. Having boarded early, were the very first ones at the MDR request station, we had previously emailed the request, b2b cruisers, and we are D+ with over 500 points (note: only 15 PC and about 150 D+ on that sailing…we did not point out our status but assume it shows on on their MDR screens) yet despite all that, the head waiter manning the station that day tried very hard to blow us off. He claimed they used booking date to decide who received their requests and we thus must not have booked early enough to get our request. We looked at him as though he had two heads, asked if that was a new RCI policy as I’d want to share it on CruiseCritic. He mumbled it was maybe just that ship as he granted our request. No issue on the second half of the b2b (we added that cruise relatively last minute🙄). When the loyalty ambassador heard the story, he had not heard that C&A guests were told newbies who booked sooner were getting preference. Seating preferences are not on the official list of C&A perks, and if RCI does decide to go by booking date I’ll accept it graciously. I’d just like to know.