Dining, Cabin, Solarium, & Transatlantic Questions

[twoatsea]

Will sail on 1/14 :D on the Radiance, our first RCCL cruise. All travel plans completed, now need to know about our onboard "things to take care of" list! Help is appreciated.

 

ROOM SERVICE - When ordering from the dinner menu, do we have a time frame for ordering, such as, before the dining room opens, a time window after the dining room opens, or....?

 

DINING ASSIGNMENT - Upon boarding, where & when can we meet with the person in charge of dining room assignments? We booked late, so don't know if we will be assigned as we prefer. If not, want to get our change request in as soon as possible.

 

CABIN UPGRADE - On RCCL site, said upon boarding, one can go to the Front Office & request an upgrade. The price will be the brochure price. That seems strange - why not at least the latest sale price? Anyone have any experience with such upgrades & if so, did you get a deal or at least the lowest price that was available before boarding (which is usually a good deal to sell off the last cabins)?

 

SOLARIUM - Looking at a Brilliance or Jewel cruise & noticed the Brilliance does not list having a solarium. What is there in the place of the solarium - an outdoor pool? Is it still "adults only"?

 

TRANSATLANTIC - Anyone experienced such a cruise during the last half of April? Looking at one & wondering if the weather would be "cold" during the cruise? ("cold" meaning uncomfortable without a coat when sitting in the outside areas of the ship) If so, probably wouldn't stop us from taking the cruise, just curious.

 

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds & also, thanks again to everyone who has previously helped me plan our January cruise. This board is wonderful! :)

[truffles2]

Will sail on 1/14 :D on the Radiance, our first RCCL cruise. All travel plans completed, now need to know about our onboard "things to take care of" list! Help is appreciated.

 

ROOM SERVICE - When ordering from the dinner menu, do we have a time frame for ordering, such as, before the dining room opens, a time window after the dining room opens, or....?

 

DINING ASSIGNMENT - Upon boarding, where & when can we meet with the person in charge of dining room assignments? We booked late, so don't know if we will be assigned as we prefer. If not, want to get our change request in as soon as possible.

 

CABIN UPGRADE - On RCCL site, said upon boarding, one can go to the Front Office & request an upgrade. The price will be the brochure price. That seems strange - why not at least the latest sale price? Anyone have any experience with such upgrades & if so, did you get a deal or at least the lowest price that was available before boarding (which is usually a good deal to sell off the last cabins)?

 

SOLARIUM - Looking at a Brilliance or Jewel cruise & noticed the Brilliance does not list having a solarium. What is there in the place of the solarium - an outdoor pool? Is it still "adults only"?

 

TRANSATLANTIC - Anyone experienced such a cruise during the last half of April? Looking at one & wondering if the weather would be "cold" during the cruise? ("cold" meaning uncomfortable without a coat when sitting in the outside areas of the ship) If so, probably wouldn't stop us from taking the cruise, just curious.

 

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds & also, thanks again to everyone who has previously helped me plan our January cruise. This board is wonderful! :)

 

Dont know about room service as we have never used it.

Cabin upgrade: ship will probably be full with no cabin changes available so book the least category you would be happy with.

 

Brilliance does have a solarium.

We did an April TA on Brilliance last year and the weather was good. Some days it was cool on deck but for the most part the weather was great. No guarantees with a crossing.

[cruisegirl1]

It has been our experience, on many ships (including the Radiance) that you can get MOST ( not all) items on the dinner menu ONLY during the dinner hour times.

 

Ditto on the upgrade response – most ship are sailing full.

I’ve always seen kids in the solarium area.

 

Enjoy your radiance cruise. We are sailing the week prior to you!

Marci

[twoatsea]

Thanks, truffles2 & cruisegirl1 for your responses.

 

I made an error in my OP. It's the Navigator , not the Brilliance I am comparing to the Jewel. What is in place of the solarium on the Brilliance?

[PH8]

Brilliance(as well as all the other Radiance class ships) have solariums as well as all the Voyager/Freedom class ships.

 

Check out http://www.rccl.com and look at the deck plans........solariums are on deck 11.........

[cb at sea]

Radiance class (Brilliance) does have an adults only solarium. It is enclosed. Apparently, they never open the retractable roof. On a transatlantic, that may be nice, but on our Caribbean it wasn't--no tan!!! But, it is heated/AC, if needed.

Weren't you given the option of dining times when you booked? If not, I'd call NOW and request what you want! If it's not avail., get on the waitlist--they usually fulfil requests.

You can order room service 24/7. If it's not on the menu, just ask for it. If they have it, they will give it to you! Just have tip money ready for the delivery person, who is kitchen staff--not waitstaff.

As far as upgrades--since the ships are sailing full most of the time, upgrades are hard to get, unless you have one of the smallest interiors booked. If you booked a decent room, and are trying for a suite of some kind--good luck--they aren't usually available. But, it doesn't hurt to check! (If there IS one available, it's generally a flat fee to upgrade--per cabin, not per person)

I can't tell you about transatlantic weather in April--hopefully you'll have pleasant weather! Enjoy!

[Host Kewlguy]

If your transatlantic is leaving from Florida and taking the southern route across the pond the weather should be quite warm even in April. If booking a veranda stateroom I would always recommend the starboard side for the east bound crossings and a port side veranda for the west bound sailings. This would be to maximize the amount of sun you will receive during the day. On our Brilliance westbound transatlantic back in November the passengers who had starboard side veranda's were complaining about not being able to use them due to the lack of sunlight and the cold. We had plenty of warm sunshine on the port side. :)

[FitzLA]

Thanks, truffles2 & cruisegirl1 for your responses.

 

I made an error in my OP. It's the Navigator , not the Brilliance I am comparing to the Jewel. What is in place of the solarium on the Brilliance?

 

Voyager class ships have a solarium that is adults only as well. It is not covered with the glass canopy and is open air, but is separated from the other pools and is adults only. Radiance class ships all have solariums with the glass canopies.

[AFT_LOVER]

quote=twoatseaWill sail on 1/14 :D on the Radiance, our first RCCL cruise. All travel plans completed, now need to know about our onboard "things to take care of" list! Help is appreciated.

 

So now it is NAVIGATOR not Radiance???

 

ROOM SERVICE - When ordering from the dinner menu, do we have a time frame for ordering, such as, before the dining room opens, a time window after the dining room opens, or....?

 

Room Service menu is on the TV. So when dinner is available it will be there to order from.

 

DINING ASSIGNMENT - Upon boarding, where & when can we meet with the person in charge of dining room assignments? We booked late, so don't know if we will be assigned as we prefer. If not, want to get our change request in as soon as possible.

 

When you get your Sea Pass card, your dining time & room with table # will be on it. So head to the dining room to see what you got. If not acceptable, then ask for the Matre D to change it for you.

 

 

CABIN UPGRADE - On RCCL site, said upon boarding, one can go to the Front Office & request an upgrade. The price will be the brochure price. That seems strange - why not at least the latest sale price? Anyone have any experience with such upgrades & if so, did you get a deal or at least the lowest price that was available before boarding (which is usually a good deal to sell off the last cabins)?

 

A good TA can upgrade you closer to cruise date but it won't be free. Free upgrades are when a ship is selling out & you have a D1 that they can sell faster than a GS or better so you get it. (We never have) At the port there is a booking person who will sell an upgrade to you.

 

SOLARIUM - Looking at a Brilliance or Jewel cruise & noticed the Brilliance does not list having a solarium. What is there in the place of the solarium - an outdoor pool? Is it still "adults only"?

 

All ships Radiance Class & up have Solariums but not all are glass covered & private adult only areas.

 

 

TRANSATLANTIC - Anyone experienced such a cruise during the last half of April? Looking at one & wondering if the weather would be "cold" during the cruise? ("cold" meaning uncomfortable without a coat when sitting in the outside areas of the ship) If so, probably wouldn't stop us from taking the cruise, just curious.

 

Now this one is tough to answer without knowing your itinerary. We have done TA's UK to Ireland to France to NYC & IT WAS COLD! It was quite rough sailing with many folks seasick. That was April. September we did a TA that was Miami to Bermuda to UK that was nice til we got near UK. Now this April we cruise TA from Miami to Spain so that will be wonderful pool & tanning weather going south.

 

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds & also, thanks again to everyone who has previously helped me plan our January cruise. This board is wonderful! :)

 

Good research mean an excellent cruise. Thanks for asking questions.

[negc]

Radiance class (Brilliance) does have an adults only solarium. It is enclosed. Apparently, they never open the retractable roof. On a transatlantic, that may be nice, but on our Caribbean it wasn't--no tan!!! But, it is heated/AC, if needed.

per person) Enjoy!

As usual, your information is not entirely correct. :rolleyes: There are times when the retractable roof on the Radiance class ships is open. However, most guests seem to prefer it to be closed so that the area is temperature controlled. Also, if you believe that the glass roof prevents those UV rays from reaching you when you lie out on a lounge in the solarium when the roof is closed, I think someone has a bridge they want to sell you.:D

[IMNiles]

I think just everyone else just about covered your issues, but I'll add:

 

dinner menu at room service : sometimes the menu on the tv is briefer than the full dinner menu. I have successfully ordered from the full dinner menu DURING DINNER, even if it wasn't on the room service menu. The key is whether the food is readily available. Dinner isn't really prepared on-demand, so they really don't have the means to prepare most of dinner outside of dinner hours. If I wanted dinner in my room, I'd try order between the start of early dinner and about halfway through late.

 

dining assignment - the Maitre'D is usually around before dinner on the first night taking change requests. If he's not there, someone nearby can tell you when he will be. There is often a line to talk to the maitre'd at dinner on the first night, so it's best to hit it beforehand if you can.

 

upgrades - port upgrades have become quite rare - I wouldn't count on this possibility, but when they are available I think they're usually a flat rate which probably bears some resemblance to the original difference in cabin price. In the half-dozen or so cruises I've taken in the last couple of years, the ships were always 100% sold.

 

transatlantic - weather is a bit of a crapshoot. The Southern route is warmer than the Northern, typically, but really anything can happen. We crossed in May and it was nice enough to be out, but not necessarily to sunbathe. The solarium is popular on TAs.