Starry Eyes

I don’t know what happened on your specific Mariner cruise (fluke?,affinity group?), but the app shows early dining on all three decks on the current cruise and a couple random upcoming cruises. I agree with you: under the old MTD system if somebody could not get early TD they could use MTD and simply dine early. Granted, if they wanted to dine with same people every night they would have to arrange it themselves (or book earlier so they can get TD). So that is justification, and once they push back the MTD start time, more people do indeed select early TD, which they use to reinforce their justification. I think TD just fills seats faster than MTD and that is better for the cruiseline.

I assure you both this revamped MTD system pre-dated the pandemic on several ships. For example, I was aware of it on Harmony before the pandemic. Others may tell you they experienced it on other ships before the shutdown. Certainly this system has been expanding to more and more ships and more guests are now aware of the issue since the restart. Do not kid yourselves; Royal Caribbean did not start this fiasco because of the pandemic or vaccinations or staff shortages. My theory is that this system fills more seats more quickly when the MDRs open. Royal gets a bunch of people into dinner (and thus out from dinner) a bit earlier this way.

I also used to enjoy the old MTD system, but as I do not like the new system at all. DH lines to eat fairly early, so the delayed MTD start time (plus potential lines) ruined the experience for us. For people who consistently like to dine later anyway, MTD still may work quite nicely, thus I do not think everyone should be put off by the new system. And for the occasional night when one needs an early dinner for some reason, there are often other choices like WJ or Solarium Bistro While early traditional dining is earlier than I’d like, it is the best option for us at this point. I agree…By delaying the start of MTD, cruiseline is forcing more people into early TD, and using that as an excuse for the delayed MTD start time.

Now that you understand the issue, if you tend to dine early, just try to swap to early dining and then request a table for two. This new system started on some ships before the pandemic…before the visa issues/staff shortages. I don’t like it, but I do not think it is automatically going away when staffing improves.

If you want to eat early, ask your TA to switch you to early dining with a table for two request; hopefully slots are still available. If not join the waitlist. If you get early dining, send the email requesting a table for two 2-3 weeks before the cruise. As you like dining quite early, the good thing for you about the new system (assuming you are able to get early dining), there are typically plenty of small tables for early diners because early dining also uses the table that are later used for MTD…smaller tables are more plentiful there.

At 80 years old, Paul Simon, the singer-songwriter of “50 ways to lose your lover” from the 1970’s, might now be able to instead compose “100 ways to lose your voucher” if rolloman is looking for musical assistance.

You might as laugh at the situation rather than cry, while remembering everyone on your cruise is having the same issue with arrival time. Yet you retain a couple advantages over the vast majority of them: you are highly motivated (so you/yours will check back often and catch the arrival time offerings sooner than most) and you are in a suite (giving you that extra hour anyway).

Maybe a song rather than a book?

Have you checked the website as well as the app? In the app, it still says I am in voyager, but shows my new cabin number. Had they been able to leave me in the same cabin number I might not know the switch had occurred by looking at the app. On the website in “my cruises”, I’m on Adventure in a new cabin number. I also have an invoice with the correct ship, etc Edit: I just deleted and reinstalled the app; it now shows I’m on adventure.

Oops, I offended someone. So, please don’t dream up a name…instead pick the young friend or family member you can most imagine inviting along and use that little darling’s name/ dob. (There are so many great kids I ‘d have trouble picking if it were me.). Hey, the idea is apt to grow on you and the adorable sprite may join you🤷‍♀️…if not, don’t panic if they no show.

If either one of us awakens after midnight, we open the app and quickly grab check in times. We don’t otherwise alter our nightly routine or do the rest of the check in the wee hours. The rest if the check in process is done at leisure generally within the week.

I hope everything is sorted out soon. You could look at “cancel for any reason” insurance. You’d have protection against policy changes as well as the all the other things that could come along.

OP, you did not mention the age of your 4th passenger. If perchance your 4th is older and you become really certain that real fourth family member will not be going on the cruise, you could price that cabin for four with a fictional young small child as the fourth passenger to see if that gives a better rate (such as kids sail free). If the price is lower you could make up a random kiddos name and dob as they will be a no show.

Royal has opened Galveston and New Orleans in US market…not CA. I do not think it is about Florida politics though I can appreciate if you just do not want a political discussion. I think these are a business strategy decisions by different companies near the end of a very difficult stretch. Royal decided to move slower, probably to monitor the results, beginning with a couple home ports (thus relatively few ships) both generally sailing to Western Caribbean ports. NCL and Carnival went further, faster. If all goes perfectly the faster ones look a bit smarter, though Royal can alter their policy as soon as they are comfortable doing so. Edit: I’d also point out we are approaching peak hurricane season. Thus the risk that ships need to re-route to different ports due to weather is greater. Perhaps Royal wants to keep maximum re-routing flexibility during peak hurricane season by having passengers vaxxed and tested, in case that pleases some local authorities when trying to find new ports in a pinch. Just a thought. BTW, did Carnival corp change the policy for all its brands or just for Carnival itself?

Yes, if the fourth does not make it to the pier you will get taxes and fees back. Booking this way also gives you lots of time to firm up 4th passenger’s plans.

Good decision. Lock in a price you are happy with while you can.

Depending upon the port, your C&A status, etc, your assigned arrival time my not make much difference. As we intend to arrive early, we’d rather have an early time, just in case.

Oh, yes, I have tried. My barcode still says gty. The waiting continues. Oddly, when booking I guessed we’d get a quick assignment this time…it was a fairly late booking, recent assignments came well before sailing, multiple OV balconies were available. I don’t mind waiting, but the chances that we will be able to swap to a cabin we prefer are dropping. We’ll be OK in any OV balcony, though We do have favorite decks.

Sometimes they are offered but one cannot see them on the poorly designed Royal booking site. That happened to me recently. I priced a cruise and though I’d do XN; XB did not show on Royal’s website. When I called to booked, XB was available at reasonable price so I booked it instead.

Overly obsessed is in the eye of the beholder😀. We are mostly watching for the cabin assignment…11 days until the cruise and they still have us in suspense. My spouse checks just as often, so he can’t really pick on me about the obsession.

I doubt it will be a problem, but you might also keep checking back to see if earlier checkin slots become available again. Maybe you can grab at least one more early one for your wife; I’m pretty sure they won’t make kids stay behind. We booked our upcoming cruise 31 days out, so checkin had been open for a couple weeks. 12:30 was the earliest we could get initially. Every time we look for our gty assignment we also look at check in times. One day hubby caught a pair of 11:30 slots for us. A couple days later I grabbed one slot a 11:00, then one more 11:00 slot popped up another day.

Obstructed balconies are more of a concern on some ship class than others. From the neighborhood balcony vs oceanview balcony discussion, I’ll infer that the OP is sailing on an Oasis Class ship. I do not think there are any badly obstructed oceanview balconies on Oasis class. Oh, there may be some with a lifeboat tucked below your cabin so you cannot see straight down to the water, but your general view is still wonderful. A small percentage of the neighborhood balcony views might be partial blocked by water slide or ship structure. OP does not seem to want those anyway. I book gty balconies fairly often on Oasis class and I do not worry about obstruction. The trade offs are that you might end up in a noisier location (deck 14 is reported to be nosier from pool deck above, though some people still like it because it is so convenient to that pool deck) or you might end up far forward/aft with long walks to cabin and perhaps more motion.

As far as I know, the formula is not given to customers. I would guess they would earn more by serving more customers. I would also think when there are fewer workers each would get a slightly larger share if the tip pool as the denominator would be smaller. Still, I imagine they would rather be fully staffed.

Many newbies have never been on a ship galley tour and don’t know that, unlike land restaurants, their waitstaff may have to wait in the galley to pick up orders. I’d rather they read here why their waiters might not always be visible. I believe they are also short handed and covering more tables. Usually I can still see my waitstaff when they are covering other tables. When one reappears after a period of visual absence, they are usually pushing a cart of food.

If the galley was slow getting item out, each waiter is stuck in the galley line longer trying to gather their order. The slower the galley, the longer and slower the line of waitstaff trying to pick up items for you and guests at other tables. Perhaps that is where they were during the long periods when you could not see them.