Gayle V

No, offering multiple options is. If you can't get into the restaurant of choice, you won't starve (a word that is NEVER heard on a cruise ship). You simply have to choose one of the other venues onboard. These restaurants are in addition to the others that are already offered, such as the Windjammer, Chops Grille, and Johnny Rockets. It's the same thing that happens when I don't like what's on the menu in the MDR. It also opens doors for well-known chefs, like Jamie Oliver, to showcase their menus.

 

If the mega ships hadn't brought me back to the cruising world, Dynamic Dining would have! After my last cruise, my attitude was more "been there, done that." This is where the success is: in turning a familiar old product into something new and exciting that will attract, not just one specific group, but many.

I still don't see how lots of options that I can't necessarily get into at a decent time, constitutes a success in any way. Especially compared to always having a table and time and waiters that I could count on, providing several meal options in a different theme each night. Simply "not starving" is an exceptionally low bar to set, if that's the criteria for success also.

SetSail was just joking, hence the emoticon with the tongue. Chill.

That icon would more often be used to imply dissatisfaction with the topic being discussed. I don't think there is an icon that would imply that what the writer is saying is just plain not true.

You know how Carnival has it's mascot, Funship Freddy? If Royal had one, they really ought to name it "Glitch". I wonder what it would look like?

After the cruise is paid for rci allows you to walk onto the ship for free, where C charges you for FTTF:p

You need to look up your facts on FTTF. Faster to the Fun is just a chance to get on the ship earlier, for a price. While IMHO, not worth the price, Royal doesn't even offer it. Once you pay for your cruise fare, Carnival DOES NOT charge extra to walk onto the ship.

So having some people not be able to get into the restaurants at all, is a success?

I would not have considered it so.

Is there a "basic" production show as well as all the special shows that require reservations?

No. The special shows more than make up for it's absence.

I have to chuckle at the folks who don't want to plan their dining ahead of time. Apparently, they've never eaten at Disney World, where you have to get dining reservations 6 months ahead of time, or you don't get them at all! :D

Sounds awful. So, are you proposing that rather negative feature of WDW as something to aspire to? Why would we want cruises to follow a pattern that even you seem to think of as a problem.

Just remember this is one huge ship. Notice that there are only two banks of elevators and stairs. You will really be happy to get a location near to the elevators.

Midsize ships often have elevators in the middle, with the fore and aft elevators located farther to the ends of the ship. Without the middle elevators, they've placed the fore and aft ones a little more to the middle than would otherwise be. This leaves an awful lot of cabins farther forward, and even more, farther aft from those locations. if you choose a cabin forward of the fore elevators, or one aft from the aft elevators, you are going to have a lot more walking to do.

For example, look at the deck plans and imagine being in a cabin far aft, on any deck. Then imagine yourself having to get to the aft pool. You are going to have to walk more than a third of the ships length to get back to the elevator, then the same distance back again to the aft (could be 150 yards or more) Any cabin near the elevator will save you half that walk. (And would put you closer to things at the front of the ship too).

Just study the deck plans, and find a cabin that is near the places you will go the most.

This whole dining concept does not appeal to me at all. Picking what restaurant and what time weeks/months in advance has no appeal whatsoever - one of the reasons that I'm not a fan of Norwegian. If this is the future of Royal, I'm sticking more and more to Celebrity. As for formal night - I love it. Let the ones that like formal night HAVE their formal night!!! It is being destroyed all over. If you don't want to bring formal wear, there are other dining options. Sheesh..... :p

I have to agree with you dirtgirl. One of the things about a cruise that was so appealing to us twenty years ago, was the one stop shopping aspect. One phone call to the TA, and you never had to worry about anything. No planning or pre-booking of meals, no worry about the timing of the shows, even excursions were booked on the ship. (You could read all about them in the nice glossy brochure that they sent with your docs.)

I don't want to spend this much time and effort, so far in advance, just so I can be sure to see the shows or to eat dinner at a decent time. (And every night's dinner used to bewonderful, not dumbed down like now, just so they can justify charging more for another meal down the hall )

We are hitting diamond on this coming cruise. If Royal continues on this coarse, I may never use the benefits of it.......Celebrity's ships did have the best food of all of our cruises.

Take a look at the dress requirement and you will see that its far from formal wear required which was my point!

 

WHAT TO WEAR

Cocktail dresses, gowns or dressy pantsuits are appropriate for women.

A jacket is required for men, along with pants (with no holes, rips or tears) and a sports shirt (must have sleeves) or sweater.

Swimsuits, robes, bare feet, tank tops, baseball caps and pool wear are not allowed in the main restaurants or specialty restaurants at any time.

Hello fishtaco, Your criteria for formal seems to be higher than average, and seems to misdirect the conversation. If Royal really stands behind THEIR DEFINITION of formal, it will make the formal lovers happy enough.

I get the feel from your posts, that you want to create a crack in the rule, by labeling the Grand as "not formal" in the minds of folks on these boards. The hope being that the crack will eventually widen into a chasm big enough to accommodate cut-off jeans.

Well that strategy has worked pretty well in the past for the dressing-up haters on these boards. Because I firmly believe it has been the continual pushing from them, that has mislead so many new cruisers into not packing proper attire, and encouraged them to attend the formal nights, inappropriately dressed. The more people who listen to them and show up under-dressed for formal nights, the more the the formal haters get to point to them and claim this as proof, that polos and khakis really are considered formal wear."

I for one, will be hoping that Royal grows some balls for a change, and insists on proper dress for this restaurant.

After Sept 1, there is a $10 charge per person/ per day for the TP. :D

 

M

LOL Please don't give them any ideas.

Having a truly formal dining room, where the dress code is actually enforced, is probably the only part of this Dynamic Dining that appeals to me. I know I would make reservations there for at least two of the nights. That's IF we book a ship that does the DD. Unfortunately that formal dining room is not enough to make up for all the negative aspects of it, so we'll likely book elsewhere until we hear how it works. Perhaps the reality will not go as is being touted. Hopefully, when the complaints come rolling in, Royal will change the system back to a more cruise-like one. There is a reason cruising became popular. IMHO Royal is moving farther and farther from it all the time.

I have a "bad" back and the "jolt" didn't hurt. Landing was ok. Wasn't prepared for Rope burn from the line when stopping....

How did you get the rope burn? Was it on your hands, like you had to grab the rope, or what? Just trying to picture this, and decide if I want to do it.

We were in 6598.

I could have sworn I read it was near the balcony before we booked. I read and read all about the location etc.

(Room location great, bed placement not so much)

 

 

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Hi Gone2Beach, Not much help to you now, but if you follow the rule (counting by twos from the nearest pair of connecting cabins) 6598 is on the left (if you imagine yourself in the hall, facing the doors) which would predict it having a bed by the closet.

We had that configuration on the Allure. It was a small annoyance in an otherwise wonderful cruise.

Thank you! It was rather tight quarters with the bed near the closet on Oasis. (Didn't ruin trip, but would have defiantly preferred near the balcony)

 

 

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Hello Gone2Beach, What was your cabin number, on the Oasis. I'm just wondering if it followed the "every other" rule, or if it was an exception.

I think your experience on the Enchantment will be much like your Imagination and Fascination cruises, as far at the ship itself. I pretty much agree with the comments posted above, about the food, and cabins. (Food not much different, but give the edge to Carnival. Cabins on Carnival more utilitarian but larger, Royal cabins, more comfortable, but smaller.

Booking excursions on line, with Royal you pay when you book. (If I remember right, with Carnival we booked ahead, but paid as part of the cabin account. That may be different now.)

Entertainment on Royal has always had superior production shows. Carnival usually had more locations with live music, (At least in my experience. )

Negative about Royal: We have at times had difficulty finding a place to eat late at night, although there was always room service.

First tell us which RC ship you are considering. Because the differences between the experience on new huge ships (Oasis and Allure) or even the other large ones, can make a difference. The small to midsize RC ships and some of Carnival ships provide a very similar experience.

(For that matter, let us know which Carnival ships you sailed, because they have differences too, and can totally alter any comparison.)

Soon you will have the fun of also booking all your dynamic dining reservations.

Now that's scarey. Considering how complicated all this booking stuff is now, I shudder to think of the confusion that's going to cause.

Don't anticipate having a lot of space in the closet to hang that folding shelf thingy that Paulette mentioned. I have one and it works great, if you have a larger closet. Unfortunately the closet we had on the Allure had little room for it. There are shelves in the closet already, which take up about a third of the closet, and make up the majority of the storage space you get for folded clothing. Combine that shelf area with the fact that the doors are the sliding type, I found it difficult to get to the items in the center part of the closet. I think if you hang one of those shelf things in there, it would make the matter worse. (Having one of the cabins with the bed right next to the closet complicated the matter too.)

Think about the dining reports on the information boards that tell you how busy a certain venue is. RFID takes that to a whole other level. At the push of a button, you could know "The Comedy Club still has twelve seats available for the show starting in ten minutes". "There is a ten minute wait for a table in The Windjammer". "There are twelve chairs available on the port side of the pool deck by the sports pool", etc...

Wondering just how it can tell you that stuff? Does it talk to you? or what?

I'm also in the same boat;) as I planed to use CruiseCare on a cruise I booked on Brilliance in Dec 2013, Ok so far but ship sails June 2015 and it's now too late to purchase 3rd. party insurance/w a pre existing condition waiver. :mad:

Hello Flacruiser99, As others have mentioned, you can still get the preexisting condition waiver with some of the companies. We always use insuremytrip to find our insurance, and compare the different policies. We usually buy it as soon as we make a deposit, but for our Allure cruise last November, we didn't buy the insurance until right before final payment. We chose HTH Trip Protector. It covered the preexisting, and was primary insurance. And yes, it did cost a good bit more than if we had purchased it more promptly.

Sure glad to have had it, as hubby passed out during dinner on-board, and had to be taken to the medical center on the ship (I was quite impressed with the facility, and the care he received there, BTW) Royal charged the entire amount for the medical bill to our on board account, which in turn charged it to our card. We called HTH as soon as we were home, and submitted the claim, which they paid in full, and very quickly. We were very pleased with their service.

I all depends on how much of a gambler you are, or can afford to be. Would having to wait till the next day, or later for a different flight (if you miss this one) be a disaster for your job? Or will paying the difference between what you paid and a last minute ticket crush your budget? Will you be comfortable with this uncertainty hanging over your head at the end of your vacation? ....I would never do it. I'm just no gambler. Good luck.

As I stated in the thread about robot bartenders, maybe they should try designing a website and reservation system that works before moving into all these gimmicks:rolleyes:

I wish there was a way to "like" this post.

If you really care whether you are out of place or not, then do not let people talk you into dressing less than the suggested code. Why take a chance on spending the evening feeling underdressed.

On our cruise, I'd say the percentage of fellows in jacket and tie hit 75 to 80%. Yes there were fellows in just shirt and tie, my son included, and those fellows actually looked a little under dressed. I think it's the light color of the shirts that makes them stick out like a sore thumb amongst all those dark suits. Absolutely did not see any jeans at all, but I did see two fellows in khakis. They did look out of place, but they do prove what the others above have said, the rules are not strickly enforced, so if merely not being refused admission is your goal, then you could do the same, they won't throw you out.

I'd say the same percentages for the ladies, maybe a little more. Very few women were in less than dressy outfits. The women seemed to dress up more than the men, as some women would be in mid calf to ankle length dresses, even if their fellow was in shirt and tie. Also , the younger women (under 35 ages) seemed to wear some very short, very dressy dresses with very high heals. The more mature types were more inclinded to the ankle length dresses, and any "pant suits" were really palazzo type pants, in sheer, or flowy materials, worn with satins and sequined tops. I like the palazzo pant outfits myself, as they pack easy and still fit the bill of being formal.

As for breakfast on the last day on the Allure:

5:30am to 8:45am Windjammer Marketplace

6:30am to 9:00am Park Cafe

7:00 am to 8:30am Adagio Dining Room

7:00 am to 8:30am Solarium Cafe

They also had coffee and refreshments in the departure lounge.