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When do you think we will be able to book shows before boarding?

maggieq

By maggieq,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

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Well, yeah, capacity is connected to reservations.  How?  When the ship sails at full capacity, the competition for reservations is greater; thus, people want to scramble to claim their seats.  

 

Even though it's not a big deal to make reservations, I do wish we could make them ahead of time.  I mean, we can make reservations for shore excursions and dinner -- how is this different?  Wouldn't  everyone -- cruisers, staff and corporate -- win if we could make reservations ahead of time?  

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brillohead "Live from...." Rare

brillohead

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6 hours ago, TheHawk1 said:

Sounds a bit like you're making excuses for Royal.  For years, since the introduction of Oasis, you could pre-book all your shows prior to sailing on the cruise planner, just like dining reservations.  Shows get cancelled and re-scheduled all the time for a particular sailing, especially the Aqua shows due to weather.  Even in pre-Covid times, the Entertainment team on board were able to manage the changes.  Not sure what has changed now that they can no longer handle this approach?


Trust me, I'm the LAST one to make excuses for Royal.  I am, however, a rather logical person, and I can see the differences between "then" and "now". 

In The Before Times, the app wasn't available to use for reservations -- it is now.  Things are different. 

In The Before Times, schedules were made out months in advance -- they aren't now.  Things are different.

In The Before Times, schedules didn't change all that often at the last minute -- they do now because of COVID issues with cast and crew IN ADDITION to occasional (not all the time) changes due to weather and technical difficulties.  Things are different.

And knowing Royal's ABSOLUTELY STELLAR IT Department (that's sarcasm -- I'm the first to diss them when it comes to their multitudinous computer issues), there is no way for them to reliably connect the app-reservation system to the web-reservation system.  

Things are different in this day and age.  Things change.  It is what it is.

 

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PhillyFan33579

PhillyFan33579

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9 hours ago, TheHawk1 said:

Sounds a bit like you're making excuses for Royal.  For years, since the introduction of Oasis, you could pre-book all your shows prior to sailing on the cruise planner, just like dining reservations.  Shows get cancelled and re-scheduled all the time for a particular sailing, especially the Aqua shows due to weather.  Even in pre-Covid times, the Entertainment team on board were able to manage the changes.  Not sure what has changed now that they can no longer handle this approach?


For years the entire ship shutdown on embarkation day to conduct the safety briefing. They don’t do that anymore and I have not heard one person complain about this change. Personally I like the change to only allowing booking on the ship, but not everyone likes every change, with the possible exception of the new safety briefing process. 

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mek

mek

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Ok - I'm confused.  Our upcoming Allure cruise in October will be our first since Covid and I want to make sure I don't waste time, so....

What is the process for Muster when we board?  My husband is disabled and uses a transport chair, if that matters.  Our check in time is 11:30 am.

The what do we do for show reservations?  There used to be a desk for people who didn't book on-line - does the no longer exist?

 

Thanks for helping an experienced cruiser who sort of feels like a newbie - LOL.

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Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

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1 minute ago, Tulsacoker said:

For Muster you can watch the safety video on your phone (at the terminal or on the ship) then proceed to your muster station and they will check you off as being completed. Very simple now 

Just a note about "new mustering procedures" -- love 'em, by the way.  SO MUCH better than the olden days when we all had to put on our life jackets and walk to the muster station at X:00.  Anyway, notes on how to win:  

 

- We arrived at our Muster Station -- we were in the MDR -- and three staff members were working.  One was "checking people in", two others were walking small groups over to their specific areas /going over the muster information with them. 

- We noted that they were forcing people to stand there watching the video -- what is it?  10-15 minutes?  We'd already watched the video -- we really do care about safety, but we didn't want to re-watch the video.  

- Very quickly it was our turn, and we jumped in /told the staff person we'd already watched the video /said something about the lifejackets being in our closet /said we understood that D22 was our space.  The staff member let us go immediately, saying we were good to go.  

- The moral is, Be Proactive.  Speak up and let your staff person know you've already watched the video.  

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TwinMamainMN

TwinMamainMN

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On 9/25/2022 at 1:13 PM, broadwaybaby123 said:

I don't understand why they won't let you pre-book the shows now.  It would make things much less stressful for the passengers and potentially crew if they did.  Yes, it doesn't take much time to begin with, but sometimes the internet access on the ship is shaky, at best.  

You don't need internet access on the ship, just connect to the ship's wi-fi. We just got off Harmony on Sunday and did both the Muster Station videos and booked some of our shows while sitting in the terminal waiting for our group number to be called.

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Mum2Mercury

Mum2Mercury

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2 minutes ago, TwinMamainMN said:

You don't need internet access on the ship, just connect to the ship's wi-fi. We just got off Harmony on Sunday and did both the Muster Station videos and booked some of our shows while sitting in the terminal waiting for our group number to be called.

That's a good use of what is otherwise tedious time. 

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TwinMamainMN

TwinMamainMN

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4 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Just a note about "new mustering procedures" -- love 'em, by the way.  SO MUCH better than the olden days when we all had to put on our life jackets and walk to the muster station at X:00.  Anyway, notes on how to win:  

 

- We arrived at our Muster Station -- we were in the MDR -- and three staff members were working.  One was "checking people in", two others were walking small groups over to their specific areas /going over the muster information with them. 

- We noted that they were forcing people to stand there watching the video -- what is it?  10-15 minutes?  We'd already watched the video -- we really do care about safety, but we didn't want to re-watch the video.  

- Very quickly it was our turn, and we jumped in /told the staff person we'd already watched the video /said something about the lifejackets being in our closet /said we understood that D22 was our space.  The staff member let us go immediately, saying we were good to go.  

- The moral is, Be Proactive.  Speak up and let your staff person know you've already watched the video.  

The current muster station video is really short. A couple of minutes max. We watched that and the 60 second or less audio clip of the emergency signal while in the cruise terminal. Just got off Harmony on Sunday. I love the new muster station requirements. So much faster and more convenient than the old pre-Covid way. Also: no loud alarms to hear on the ship and no waiting in line for an elevator before/after if you need to use one.

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brillohead "Live from...." Rare

brillohead

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5 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Just a note about "new mustering procedures" -- love 'em, by the way.  SO MUCH better than the olden days when we all had to put on our life jackets and walk to the muster station at X:00.  Anyway, notes on how to win:  

 

- We arrived at our Muster Station -- we were in the MDR -- and three staff members were working.  One was "checking people in", two others were walking small groups over to their specific areas /going over the muster information with them. 

- We noted that they were forcing people to stand there watching the video -- what is it?  10-15 minutes?  We'd already watched the video -- we really do care about safety, but we didn't want to re-watch the video.  

- Very quickly it was our turn, and we jumped in /told the staff person we'd already watched the video /said something about the lifejackets being in our closet /said we understood that D22 was our space.  The staff member let us go immediately, saying we were good to go.  

- The moral is, Be Proactive.  Speak up and let your staff person know you've already watched the video.  


The video is only a few minutes long (not even five).  And for people who haven't already seen the video, they need to watch it in order to get check off as having completed the safety drill.  Not everyone downloads the app or pays attention to the notification that pops up telling them to view the video before getting on the ship.  

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mek

mek

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On 9/27/2022 at 9:08 AM, Tulsacoker said:

For Muster you can watch the safety video on your phone (at the terminal or on the ship) then proceed to your muster station and they will check you off as being completed. Very simple now 

Is that through the app?

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Tulsacoker

Tulsacoker

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41 minutes ago, xray0111 said:

Can't you also do the muster from your stateroom and then report to your station for final instructions?

 

Not saying that is what we will do just pointing out another way.

yes you can, watch the video on the TV however most staterooms are not available until 1 pm 

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Sun Lover

Sun Lover

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On 9/27/2022 at 9:08 AM, Tulsacoker said:

For Muster you can watch the safety video on your phone (at the terminal or on the ship) then proceed to your muster station and they will check you off as being completed. Very simple now 

How do they verify that you watched the video?

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