BekkaW

On 7/26/2019 at 6:22 AM, twangster said:

 

I wasn't aware that Empress ever had a diamond lounge in the VCL.  July 2018 when I last sailed her it didn't. 

Nor did she when we sailed in November 2018

Laser tag can not be booked in advance. Session times will be advertised in the cruise compass and you just line up. 14 players at 1 time. I recommend lining up 10 minutes before the start time. 

We we really enjoyed it, great fun 

9 minutes ago, soak01 said:

 

Except it was $60.28 AUD here so about $42 USD which sounds like a normal sale price going by the responses on here, so even when it is a glitch, RCCL still price gouges us aussies.

There were people who booked for $24 AUD 

6 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Your photo shows up when your pass is scanned. If seen, the ship can only assume that your son is using someone else's pass to get free drinks, confiscate your card, and cancel your drink package without refund for fraud. 

So why can my husband do it, but not her son? We never had a problem with just one of our party going to the bar with everyone’s cards 

Note the 50% off is off the onboard price NOT the price you buy online. Onboard price usually much higher

24 minutes ago, DustFSU said:

Instead of going head first maybe going feet first laying down or sitting up if enough head room

You don’t get a choice of how to go. It’s always feet first 

I’m really sorry this happened and put a dampener on your vacation ☹️ I really enjoyed the abyss and didn’t realise they were having these kinds of problems. When we were on Symphony (October 2018) the instructions were that our elbows had to be tucked in to our body - essentially sitting on our stomach. Was that the instructions you received also? Just wondering if they have changed something. 

The technical answer is that shorts are welcome for breakfast and lunch in the MDR, but not for dinner. 

The realistic answer is that this is very rarely enforced 

1 hour ago, DonnaK said:

Thanks for all the input!

I'm not so concerned about lack of bells and whistles, or the smallness of the ship.

My concern is cleanliness and quality of the food.  They may be old ships, but I don't want them to feel old, musty, dirty.  

Empress had a refurb just recently so I don’t think you will find her old, musty or dirty. 

We were on her in November and she wasn’t bad then, which was before the refurb. Like you we prefer the bigger ships - we were on Symphony the week before Empress- but we were prepared to accept the smaller ship in order to get to Cuba. It was wonderful and definitely worth it. 

No diamond lounge. When we were on her there wasn’t even a diamond event! I noted on my survey my dissatisfaction with the loyalty offering on Empress overall and have hear more recently they have been doing an event, so that’s better than nothing. 

On 5/5/2019 at 7:55 AM, biomedbob said:

The concept of MTD is walk in when you want, be seated when available.  Now they are selling reservations in the terminal before you get on the ship.   I've taken this up often with the staff at the dining room entrance and have this argument that I needed to have a reservation.  Gone to a higher level person and gotten seated.  I think MTD is when I want on board, not 2 months in advance.

 

I disagree. The concept of MTD is that you can eat at a time that isn’t traditional early or late seating. This enables the possibility of walking in when you want, but it isn’t just for that. Making reservations isn’t antithetical to MTD.

Also, given that MTD can’t be ‘sold’ I think you may have seen the specialty restaurant desk. 

I have experienced this many times - it’s because your cruise doesn’t leave from Australia.

When you see the daily drinks price advertised, if you leave from Australia it includes the gratuity, if you leave elsewhere it doesn’t. In both situations what you pay at checkout is the final price. 

I’m not sure about the timing sorry, but just as an aside if you change ships it’s called a ‘side to side’ or S2S, not B2B 

Apart from waitlisting for early dining the other option is to eat elsewhere than the MDR. We sometimes eat dinner in the Windjammer and it’s quite nice in the evening 

It’s usually more in the $25 to $35 range, but yes they offer laundry bag specials 

On 4/8/2019 at 2:07 AM, Salt Rocker said:

Hi, does anyone know if the bathrooms are provided with a washing line?

In my experience Ovation doesn’t have any line in the bathroom. Some other ships do 

I could see myself using this if it included playmakers and vintages where I might want an in-between meal like wings, but I too was a bit confused by the ‘multiple dinners’ angle

On Symphony we ate at Chops, 150CP and Wonderland. They were all really good. I think my favourite was 150CP - you have to try the fried cheesecake dessert! 

It’s Coke products on all RCI ships 

Yes you will be able to find all those food items, and there is an omelette station in the Windjammer at breakfast time. Also a crepe station!

The library on Ovation is pretty small, it’s upstairs inside the 270 lounge at the rear of the ship. Usually 2 trivias per day, and yes there is a Love & Marriage game show.  

On 3/19/2019 at 6:10 AM, Carnival4U said:

Recently they refuse to give chips and say you have to go to the tables....

This has been my experience also. They will give you a slot voucher at the cashiers window, otherwise you just buy chips at the table and charge it against your room(which your OBC can cover). If you run a cash account there is no fee for this

I’m not super impressed by the Radiance/Serenade news. I was really hoping for a Freedom class 

The cancelled port is Santiago doe to the problems with the dock. RCI has sent out an email to affected passengers - perhaps check your junk mail folder (or if you booked thoughts TA it will have gone to them ) 

 I had a JS guarantee on Oasis. It was allocated 3 days before sailing and we received a JS, deck 9 on the hump 

7 hours ago, flamingos said:

 

 

What if you get your drinks at 'any bar'?  I keep reading about the lounge being full and mere Diamonds being excluded.  🙂

I think you’re confusing this with concierge/suite lounges. 

But if the Diamond lounge is too crowded for your taste then you can use the 3 drink coupons at another bar, as davekathy mentioned above. 

WHat you described is absolutely fine. On our 7 night there was 1 formal and also 1 ‘dress to impress’ night