Disappointing Experience on Wonder

[Mum2Mercury]

5 hours ago, orville99 said:

They are prepared in a kosher kitchen shoreside, packaged, frozen, and delivered to the ship with all of the prepackaged disposable utensils, etc all sealed. (Picture a TV dinner). They are served to the passenger still sealed.

Multiple thoughts -- and, again, I'm a Southerner and not at all well informed on this topic: 

- That's most interesting and efficient. 

- If the meals are prepared in advance and just re-warmed, why does it matter if the kitchen is Kosher? 

- People are paying a heft fee for frozen meals.   

5 hours ago, orville99 said:

There was a Rabbi on the 1/7 Wonder cruise who was responsible for overseeing the conversion of the SB to a kosher venue for the following week’s cruise. He stayed on for the second week as well. We met him on turnaround day.

That's well done and respectful to the Jewish religion.  

Also a cool job for the rabbi, as I assume he got a free cruise.  

5 hours ago, WorkingForOBC said:

... Within the US, I would say that a majority of Jewish people do not keep strictly Kosher. Some people don't follow the rules at all, while others will follow the rules to varying degrees. Some people choose to keep Kosher at home, while eating whatever they want outside of the home. Others try to maintain "kosher style" i.e. no pork, no shellfish, no mixing of dairy and meat. There are many other permutations of following the Kosher rules ...

So you could just hit the big stuff or could be very exacting about the details.  

1 hour ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Exactly, email to the dining room people then confirm with the host as soon as you board the ship should do the trick!

On our last cruise we emailed ahead of time asking for something specific in the MDR, and we didn't get it.  So we went to the dining room's supervisor, explained what we needed it, and he changed our table -- the only "difficulty" was that we had our table number written on a piece of paper instead of printed on our ship ID card.  

[FlatFooted Freda]

We were on this Wonder cruise. We had never heard of Yeshiva week prior to this sailing. We found it more interesting than anything. Did not encounter rude guests. There were a lot of kids, but we did not find their behavior to be outrageous - just kids being kids. We were on a Spring Break - March- cruise last year. I'd take the Yeshiva kids 10 to 1 over that cruise ( also Royal). I would have liked the option to eat in the Solarium Bistro. 

We did notice that they only ate on paper plates/cups. Can someone educate us on that one?

[sgmn]

13 hours ago, Thisguylikestocruise said:

Do the 9+ night cruises filter out most of the kids? Haven’t done one yet, but I’m assuming anything over a week is mostly adults.

I would definitely think longer cruises and non-oasis class ships would be have less young families.

Now we're retired we mainly look for 9+ day cruises. 

 

[Kovster]

So the short.. find sailings that start on Sunday and not Saturday?

 

I'm booked for Jan 12th 2025, which sails on Sunday out of PC.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

18 minutes ago, Kovster said:

So the short.. find sailings that start on Sunday and not Saturday?

 

I'm booked for Jan 12th 2025, which sails on Sunday out of PC.

No, you're better off with cruises starting/ending on Saturday.  Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath.

Edited February 4, 2023 by S.A.M.J.R.

[orville99]

Just a quick comment: it looks from the range of posts and differing impressions that there are several Yeshiva week cruises being conflated in this thread. At least one on Oasis, and at least two on Wonder. I can only speak about the one on Wonder (1/15-1/22) that we were on, and quite honestly, the 600+ participants were virtually invisible on that cruise. We never encountered any behavior from any one that would have drawn negative attention to the group. They were the most polite, laid back, and respectful group we have ever sailed with. It is unfortunate that other cruises experienced different behavior, but we would sail on a cruise that had the group that was on with us in January on in a heartbeat.

[edrussell]

As I was the one that brought up the sailing on Oasis I will state so that it doesn't get confused that I was not referring to a Yeshiva cruise.  The group on this sailing were not Jewish.  They were another nationality.  The particular country/region they were from is unimportant.  Nor were the problems caused by kids with this group, there were few.  Truth be told I don't much care what region you are from or what you do in the bedroom, I care if you are and a__hat and if you disrupt others.  With all of that being said we will always do our level best to determine if any sailing we are on is part of a group cruise and we will avoid them.  We luckily have the freedom to book our cruises whenever we like so moving them one week or another is easy for us.  For others that may not be the case.

 

 

[Mom*3]

14 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

- If the meals are prepared in advance and just re-warmed, why does it matter if the kitchen is Kosher? 

- People are paying a heft fee for frozen meals.   

 

 I think the prepared in advance, pre-packaged meals are what is available on Non Yeshiva cruises. For this cruise the Rabbi ensured that the Solarium Bistro was converted to Kosher, so they could have freshly prepared food. 

 

 

[Mom*3]

13 hours ago, FlatFooted Freda said:

We were on this Wonder cruise. We had never heard of Yeshiva week prior to this sailing. We found it more interesting than anything. Did not encounter rude guests. There were a lot of kids, but we did not find their behavior to be outrageous - just kids being kids. We were on a Spring Break - March- cruise last year. I'd take the Yeshiva kids 10 to 1 over that cruise ( also Royal). I would have liked the option to eat in the Solarium Bistro. 

We did notice that they only ate on paper plates/cups. Can someone educate us on that one?

 Jewish families that keep Kosher often have 2 sets of plates, 1 for meat, 1 for dairy. I assume it was just easier to use paper instead of having 2 sets of plates. I could be wrong, just guessing.

[orville99]

28 minutes ago, Mom*3 said:

We did notice that they only ate on paper plates/cups. Can someone educate us on that one?

Presumably, since the only way to wash traditional plates, cups, flatware, etc. on a cruise line would have been in the ships industrial dishwashers, it would have been impossible for them to remain kosher after they were washed. Single use items are a lot easier to control.

 

BTW, a kosher kitchen maintains separate prep areas for meat and dairy as well.

[rberns6171]

We were on 2 weeks before you and had a great cruise. I am so sorry you had a dissappointing time !!

It will always make a difference when 2 venues are closed  . Hope you have a wonderful time the next time on whatever cruise you go on .

[goldfish65]

Googled Christian cruises and they are a thing. Royal has several in 2023. Mariner Dec 18-23. "Kids are welcome." I am thinking with these special groups, you can call the organizers and ask how many attendees they have, will it be a lot of families, will venues be closed, etc. 

Edited February 4, 2023 by goldfish65

[dani negreanu]

On 2/3/2023 at 4:33 AM, DallasGuy75219 said:

To non-Jews many of these restrictions sound archaic, if not (and I'm not trying to be offensive here) ridiculous. 

 

And to many Jews too... The ban travel on Saturday/Shabbat was good when families were living together, thousands of years ago.

 

Nowadays, families are spread out due to work, education, price of living, etc. In Israel, where the Shabbat is the only "free" day, if you don't have a car, you cannot visit families & friends.

 

No public transportation allowed.

[allisonb22]

On 2/2/2023 at 10:14 PM, Thisguylikestocruise said:

I board Wonder this Sunday, and today we went to Disney. I thought a weekday in February would be a good time to visit Disney. I was so wrong! It was EXTREMELY crowded. I’ve been there many times, and it’s the worst I’ve seen it. Elbow to elbow crowds. Boxed in by double strollers or electric scooters at every turn.Totally overwhelmed and exhausted. I feel like it’s unsafe. If there was an emergency, people would get trampled in the park. Ready for a relaxing cruise. After my experience at Disney today, I’m sure getting on Wonder this week will feel much more relaxing.

We did Disney the day prior to boarding and the day we disembarked. We felt the same way, but I'm not much of a Disney person so my crowd tolerance is always at an all time low there LOL.

[allisonb22]

On 2/3/2023 at 4:46 AM, ellie1145 said:

We were also shocked at the way they treated staff and their sense of entitlement. They were incredibly demanding in the dining room and so rude to the poor waiters

it was terrible!! I felt so sorry for the staff, they were brutal! 

 

Our sailing's FB group kept kicking out members who brought up this group's poor treatment of staff.

[allisonb22]

On 2/3/2023 at 6:40 AM, zeberdee said:

This is not a cheap trip and I am getting very frustrated by Royal. 

 

This is exactly why I was frustrated! I hope it does not end up being one of those cruises and you don't have to change your sailing. 

[allisonb22]

On 2/3/2023 at 6:51 AM, matj2000 said:

Most people will not read it.

 

Quite amount of time wasted.

 

But I guess the OP has a lot of time

i don't need anyone on here to read it if they aren't interested, as you seem to say you aren't but want to keep commenting. seems like you're wasting your own time. 

 

i guess i'm lucky i have so much time on my hands i can recall my experience to share with others to maybe help someone or give some insight 😝 silly me!

[allisonb22]

On 2/3/2023 at 6:53 AM, Sunshine3601 said:

Had you emailed rcldining for your special request for a 12 top table?    It is best to do that 2 weeks within your sail date.

 

When you boarded the ship did you go to the dining room to speak with host about 12 top table?

When planning special things it is important to double check before arriving at dinnertime.

 

I did not email- I called. They assured me we would be fine.

 

The first place I went once on board (after checking in at muster station) was to the MDR. That is where they explained we were all linked but spread across two tables and that there was nothing they could do. Rather than stand there and argue about it, we accepted it as it was, but it does not take away the frustration. 

[allisonb22]

On 2/3/2023 at 10:06 AM, mandyleighflies said:

I do not like children (unruly, feral children, not well behaved clearly parented children)  and their adult's only concept is fantastic

totally agree! I am trying Virgin this year for the first time because they are adults only! 🙂

[Big_G]

In the OP's defense, there were the same complaints on Oasis that week. In all of our years cruising we've never seen that many kids on a ship. I wouldn't put the kid complaints on any one group because it was also a kids sail free cruise. We managed to stay above the fray being on Deck 17 in a suite but there was a lot of grumbling going on especially on that sailing's Facebook page. People felt they should have been told the Solarium Bistro would be closed. The one time time we went to the Jammer we watched a guy berate 2 white shirts about how crowded it was. At one point the Facebook admin shutdown complaints. We've sailed Oasis Class multiple times and had another great cruise but I might be hesitant to book it again for that week. Never thought to Google group cruises but I might start.

[allisonb22]

9 minutes ago, Big_G said:

We've sailed Oasis Class multiple times and had another great cruise but I might be hesitant to book it again for that week

I definitely agree with you! We sailed Oasis in May and yes, there were a lot of kids, but not to this extent! & they were overall pretty well behaved in May, this trip it was madness! 

 

We sailed Anthem Jan 2020 and Jan 2022 with very few kids on board (like less than 20!), so we were expecting there to be more than we had experienced before, but not nearly as many as there were

[Starry Eyes]

39 minutes ago, allisonb22 said:

I did not email- I called. They assured me we would be fine.

 

The first place I went once on board (after checking in at muster station) was to the MDR. That is where they explained we were all linked but spread across two tables and that there was nothing they could do. Rather than stand there and argue about it, we accepted it as it was, but it does not take away the frustration. 

Well, you learned a lesson you are not apt to forget …if you have a dining table request, you email 2-3 week before your cruise so your request goes to the person planning tables for your cruise at the proper time.  If there were tables for 12, that would have given you your best shot at getting one.

[Big_G]

20 minutes ago, allisonb22 said:

I definitely agree with you! We sailed Oasis in May and yes, there were a lot of kids, but not to this extent! & they were overall pretty well behaved in May, this trip it was madness! 

 

We sailed Anthem Jan 2020 and Jan 2022 with very few kids on board (like less than 20!), so we were expecting there to be more than we had experienced before, but not nearly as many as there were

 

We had another large group on board...literally.

 

https://www.cruisingatlarge.com/

[Badatz2]

19 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Multiple thoughts -- and, again, I'm a Southerner and not at all well informed on this topic: 

-

- If the meals are prepared in advance and just re-warmed, why does it matter if the kitchen is Kosher? 

- People are paying a heft fee for frozen meals.   

 

 

[Badatz2]

Just now, Badatz2 said:

The precooked meals are defrosted and can be warmed up in a regular oven if they come in their original sealed packages.  They will be served to the passenger still sealed and wrapped. If they are opened, they have to be warmed in an oven used for Kosher food only, which is not available on most ships.  Kosher rules can take up an encyclopedia. 

These meals are supplied by Royal and most cruise lines at no extra charge.