HBE4

On the 11/4 sailing of the Liberty, it was made available on day 4.

$79 for 10 drinks.

I was on the 11/4 sailing of the Liberty. Booked it in May. At the time, I did not see it in Cruise Planner until around Aug or Sept.  Keep checking, it would be in the dining section of the cruise planner.

It was held in the Star Lounge (not one of the the specialty restaurant) on the first night.

EDIT: We did not go so I can not comment on the show itself.

34 minutes ago, poncho1973 said:

Why hasn't anyone insulted the man in shorts in the last photo?  This is Cruise Critic people!  It is your duty!

Because he's in better shape than me.

7 minutes ago, piescruises said:

 In civitavecchia lots of people take the train to the port.

In Europe, more people take the train period.

As already noted, most people on the US do not.  It would be nice if they did.

14 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

No, it isn't.  Civitavecchia is a large seaport.  Stamford has a marina.

True. Probably the closest (and only) deep water port would be New Haven. Not sure if it could handle a cruise ship tho.

Plus, being half-way between New York and Boston, it would not make sense economically for Royal to open another port. It would be competing against itself.

28 minutes ago, piescruises said:

stamford could be like civitavecchia is to rome. Stamford is to new york. They could design the train schedule and shuttle buses from the stc to the pier.

True. My concern was luggage on the train. Metro-North is a commuter railroad and does not have baggage cars. The storage space within the passenger cars is more for backpacks and laptop bags, not big suitcases.

Amtrack does have the ability to carry checked baggage and would certainly be able to absorb some of the crowds.

33 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

Biker, who thinks MTD will morph into what DD was supposed to be and traditional will become a minority.

That is my thinking as well. Change is usually slow and incremental.  I remember hearing horror stories about MTD but now it's a smooth running ,well-oiled experience, probably more popular than the traditional (just a guess, I have no hard numbers to back that up).

24 minutes ago, piescruises said:

stamford though still has the second-busiest train station in metro north

Good point and it is a definite possibility.  However, not sure how many are willing to take the train while hauling a week's work of luggage for the family. Perhaps if Royal had a check-in kiosk at Grand Central or Penn Station it might work.

36 minutes ago, piescruises said:

Fort Lauderdale has condos similar to stamford and putting this in stamford rather than greenwich is better for many reasons: traffic, pollution, transportation people in stamford probably would more ok. not in my backyard middle the 3 miles from your backyard. How do the beaches in fort lauderdale stay clean with 5 cruise ships.  

Probably b/c the FLL beaches are on the ocean while the LI sound beaches close every time there is a heavy rainstorm due to pollution from storm water runoff.

If you are advocating Stamford to replace Bayonne as a port, then you'll need to get people from New Jersey, PA, NYC, Long Island, the 3 major airports and upstate NY to Stamford. A tunnel under the LI sound would help alleviate some of that and has been discussed since the 1960's.  But local residents on both sides of the LI Sound would oppose it.

14 minutes ago, piescruises said:

Cruises usually leave on weekends when there is less traffic.

I've spent many a weekend sitting in traffic admiring the  Stamford skyline which traveling to and from Foxwoods casino😉

I never had a chance to experience DD but it sure sounds like an interesting concept.  Since Royal has a large variety if ships, why not designate a few to have dedicated DD?  Maybe one ship from each class? That way, people will have a choice.

Like anything else that is radical and new, it will take some time for people to get used to it....and for Royal to work the kinks in the system.

16 hours ago, piescruises said:

maybe with Connecticut government funding.

And maybe if the long-sought tunnel under the Long Island sound is built to get people to Stamford from Long Island. I-95 is already a disaster on the best of days, especially in the summer. Not to mention, I don't think your neighbors in Greenwich, CT will appreciate the extra traffic.

I don't see it ever happening. Where would the terminal be located? The coast line is already lined with parks and private communities and the remaining abandoned industrial sites are being converted to high-end luxury condos.  And the Eco-system in the western LI sound is already fragile so  it take decades to pass environmental reviews and challenges from the various Not-In-My-BackYard groups.

But I can appreciate your enthusiasm of having a cruise ship a short Uber ride from your home

On 11/6/2018 at 7:36 AM, Iamcruzin said:

 I have never seen in that in NY. Then again no self respecting New Yorker would buy pizza at McDonalds especially since real Pizzerias out number McDonalds in any neighborhood. 

So is RCCL the Lombardi's, the Pizza Hut or Domino's of cruise lines?

1 hour ago, OKLandShark said:

Thanks to everyone! All the  info has been and will be hugely helpful!  Very informative!  You guys are awesome!  

 

I think when we get it decided, it will be either the Liberty of the Seas from Galveston or try out one of the Oasis class.  Just not sure yet!

 

Thanks again!

 

 

Let us know after you decided or after your cruise. We'd be interested on your thoughts, expectations and comparisons.

6 hours ago, pcur said:

That's true of the regular main dining room, but for MTD the staff will lose the tips for that table for the time period they hold it waiting for the passengers to show up who have reserved it.  That's why they log in your cabin number to the table in MTD: so the staff will get the tips for the evening meal.  

 

I had prepaid gratuities which is shared among the staff. Wouldn't the waiters get the same tip whether I ate there or not?

I hate to think that it's based on the # of people served.....especially for the poor bartender in the theater bar.

Twangster & 2Long2NxtCrz - thanks for the quick replies. I feel better now.  

There was another day were were late as well and figured we'd have to wait on the No-Reservation line but they still took us right to our table.

5 hours ago, pcur said:

It's best to let them know to not hold a MTD table for you if you've reserved it.

In my case, I would have IF I could. I had made a week's worth of MTD reservations for 7:00 pm prior to the cruise. On 2 of those days, we decided to not go for various reasons (napped to long/lingered & ate to much all day, etc). I tried calling the MTD phone number to cancel around 5-6 pm but - according to the cruise compass - it's only staffed from 7 am - 3 pm. Sure enough, it just rang and rang...

There was no way to cancel via TV and without an app, the only option was to walk to the MDR on the other side of the ship and cancel in person.

I just assumed they would give my spot to someone in the No-Reservation line. Hopefully this is correct.

Check the cruise compass. It seems like there is always 12 things going on at one time. I'm sure you can find a dance class lesson, casino game lesson, trivia contest, art auction or some kind of educational /speaker thing going on.

If it's MTD reservations, won't they just give your spot to someone on the No-Reservation line?

I hope so, otherwise I'm a real jerk for the 2 no-shows on last week's cruise.

19 hours ago, Cigar King said:

That is crazy...why send these out to suite guests.  Royal's IT staff is terrible.

 

 

Perhaps they are hoping to snag a suite guest that is not aware of the suite perks and buys the The Key? 

7 minutes ago, OfTheSeasCruiser said:

We all seem to assume this means the SkyPad was a failure, but it could also be that Royal just wants to create variety between ships. Or it could very well have been a failure and the SkyPad won't be added to any other ships. 

 

We'll have to wait and see.

Thanks!

I just went back and read the fine print: "Highlights and features may vary by ship even within one ship class."

If I read this correctly, there are 6 more ships that will be amp-up with the Skypad. Any chance it will be pulled?

http://www.royalcaribbeanincentives.com/content/uploads/2018-2019-Fleet_Guide.pdf

Perhaps as word gets around, more people will use it?

1 hour ago, Joseph2017China said:

My understanding is that the 3 drinks is a gift to the person that earned those gifts.  The drinks were a solution to the overcrowding, and the fact that some people were with people who did not earn that gift yet, so they can now socialize in other clubs, and still get the gift.  So what happens when you abuse a gift?  Well, it gets removed.  My suggestion is this.  Don't talk about how you "break" the rules of the gift.  Don't talk about the employees who you bribed.  Don't talk about sharing.  Just take the gift, and be quite about it.  Eventually, the gift will be removed, if it is abused.

Which is worse for RCI:

1) a Diamond member shares a drink or two with a non-diamond family/friend and the cruise line is out $10-$15 at best?

2) RCI pulls the perk/gift leading to overcrowded DL and pissing off hundreds of loyal members who have sent thousands of dollars and potentially driving them (and their $$$$) to another cruise line?

If I owned a cruise line, I know what I wold chose. Me thinks you don't have worry about the perk being pulled.

5 minutes ago, lazydayz said:

In order to ensure the WOW factor, I would recommend at least the Freedom class.  After trying Oasis and Allure, I highly recommend these ships even for new Royal cruisers.  There is so much to see, do and experience, it is hard to imagine not having an awesome cruise.  The entertainment is leagues better than other ships.  And the ships themselves are works of art.  

Again, I agree!

12 minutes ago, dwayneb236 said:

Our cruise on the Harmony spoiled my wife for the Oasis class. I don't mind a bit smaller ship but she just likes all the stuff. Fine with me. As long as I'm on a ship I'm all good. 

Agreed.  After 4 sailings on either the Oasis-class or Anthem ships, I went back to the “old, small” Liberty and still had a blast and did not run out of things to do!