HappyTexan44

Thank you everyone for the thoughtful replies. I am particularly happy to hear that people have liked the Escargots and the Tenderloin, since those were the two things I was most interested in. People are different, some like to wing it on vacation. Me, I find that stressful. I love the anal scale that was mentioned here and I'm somewhere in the 9.2-9.5 range. I'll never forget the AZ vacation where we drove around, and I'd had it well-planned except for the restaurants because life got busy the weeks beforehand. At one point DH turned to me and said, "Where's good to eat near here?" I had to say, "No Clue." Plus, planning and researching vacations helps to extend the vacation.

I hope somebody has tried the lamb. My MIL is a Kiwi, so DH orders lamb often.

Enough time has passed that people have experience with the new MDR menu items. What I'm looking for is recommendations specific items, particularly what to avoid and what is pretty good. The same ship/itinerary as ours starts in a few days and it has the menus up. They are: Voyager – Likely MDR Menu lineup for our 5-day cruise 1 Welcome Aboard 2 France 3 Caribbean 4 Mexico 5 Italy I've noticed that the thoughts on the beef dishes is all over the board, which makes sense because it just depends on what the suppliers have on hand. I always avoid anything with "White Fish" in the description. I feel that is the fish equivalent to admitting the dish is Mystery Meat. So, I'm curious about everything else. We don't have any dietary restrictions. DH loves vegetables so if there is a really good veggie meal, I'd like to hear about that. The desserts *sound* really good, but I haven't noticed any glowing reviews on any desserts. This is our starter cruise, so we'll be sticking tot he MDR. Caribbean+Night+Menu+-+Royal+Caribbean+Main+Dining+Room (1).pdf French+Night+Menu+-+Royal+Caribbean+Main+Dining+Room.pdf Welcome+Aboard+Menu+-+Royal+Caribbean+Main+Dining+Room.pdf Italian+Night+Menu+-+Royal+Caribbean+Main+Dining+Room.pdf Mexican+Night+Menu+-+Royal+Caribbean+Main+Dining+Room.pdf

But aren't there reports of twice as much on one entree plate being reliably allowed? DH eats more than the average person because he's extremely active. So, I can see him eating more than normal. I eat less than normal, but I could see myself skipping dessert and appetizer because none appeals, and just eating two of the small entrees, although in that case one at a time would be fine. I also don't plan on eating crap. So, if someone observed us, they might think we were wasting food.

Thank you. We're Sam's Members, but my parents are Costco members. I can ask Dad to pick up some for me. The quality of vanilla does make a difference.

3-4 hours for a dining window isn't the time for each dining table, but the time window in which most people are eating dinner. It was in reference to the person that said the MDR gets a pass since they only have 3-4 hours in which to serve a meal to thousands of people. I was pointing out that restaurants have about the same amount of time.

@Crapster I feel that this is a naïve question, but I don't know the answer. What does "take very good care of you" mean? I've read that sometimes on the table games they aren't always reliable about giving you earned points, so slot machines are better. Were you saying that the dealer is generous with recording your play for points accumulation? Also, this part is confusing, "after each new point." You earned 4000 points, so tipping $2 for every points adds up to $8000. That doesn't make sense. Can you clarify your dealer tipping frequency?

The MDR doesn't get a pass and it isn't a catered dinner. It *is* a really really large restaurant with an extremely limited menu. In a catered event, it does matter that everyone gets their food at the same time. There are speeches and group things that will happen, so everyone needs to eat in sync. In the MDR, do you really care that someone on the other side of the room got their entree a half-hour before or after yours? The traditional dining times is for their convenience, not yours. Also, in your standard event space, the kitchen might average 1-2 large meals per week. Whereas the MDR is doing a large meal each day, plus smaller breakfast and some lunches. So, while an event space has an excuse for a smaller kitchen, the cruise ship has zero excuse. Kitchens can be scaled up. They can hire more people and buy more equipment. 3-4 hours is a standard window of time in a restaurant for dinner.

Well, according to their own bean-counter reports, they are spending less on food per passenger. Considering how much inflation has hit my grocery bill, it seems impossible for the quality to have *not* tanked if the food budget has gone down. Reminds me of a place I used to work. A manager would get a great idea for a morale booster, once they cooked steaks for everyone for some company anniversary. A high-up manager mandated that the steaks be 'huge, as in hang off the edge of the plate." The steaks were less than a 1/2" thick and shoe leather. I took it home thinking my eat-anything cat would enjoy it. Nope. He didn't recognize it as food. One other time they got everyone white polo shirts with the company name on it. Fabric was so thin and transparent that even men wore a undershirt underneath.

Is this what you would recommend to maximize the points earned / dollar lost?

Can you explain in more detail what you did? Also how much money did you start with and how much did you win/lose overall?

The lines by boarding times sound ideal. You want to arrive early, you get in your line and probably get on much earlier. No one with an early time is stuck waiting behind someone that arrived very early. On the other hand, you can't blame people for ignoring their assigned time when Royal also ignores it. Maybe Royal is happy that enough people pay attention that it spreads out the crowds to a tolerable level. I say this as someone that plans on using my Disney World acquired skills to get an early time.

As far as excursions, somewhere here is a thread on how to look at the cruise planner for another cruise than yours. So, you find one same ship same ports that is fairly soon. Then you use the format in the thread to finangle the webaddress to see the excursions for that cruise. Won't help with purchasing, but it will give you an idea of what is available.

As far as them having to share their cash tips too. I agree that you can't really go by what anyone says. But, the lawsuits are convincing. When people are upset enough to sue about being moved from a cash-tip position to a behind-the-scenes position, that tells me that the cash tips aren't being shared.

How does that work? I can't see how paying cash for dinner causes extra handling expenses.

Good idea: Basic hot dog and hamburger buns are universally awful. At home I'll use homemade flour tortillas instead of hot dog buns. That sourdough has to be fresher than the hamburger buns.

And you already did something to make you less attractive as someone to bump. Even though you didn't do Air2Sea, you still have a flight. Australia they targeted locals.

That is how casinos work. They want to comp the winners, not the losers. They want a crack at getting that money back.

What is it that makes that brand better?

How much does the vanilla cost, for example, Los Cinco Soles vanilla? I'd like to buy as much as I can carry and I don't want to come up short on the $.

So not really unlimited. What if someone wants to go to Playmaker's late at night after having had dinner earlier?

That is wild to think that only $50 of the pay for non-tipped positions comes from the cruise fare, with the rest from the prepaid gratuities. Not sure how I think about that. One thing with tipped positions is that you can have a direct and large impact on your own pay. There are limits of course, if there aren't many customers, then your pay is limited. But, a really good waiter can regularly earn double of an average waiter on the same shift/restaurant. But with this pooled auto grat., the crew has the worst of both worlds. They have zero impact on their pay, but they also have the uncertainty of fluctuating pay. On the other hand, I get why Royal would like it this way, Any $ they can push off to 'optional' makes the cruise fare look better in comparison to other lines.

There is something to the special status of the crew. When I was a waiter, if I'd been asked to clean the toilet, I could have walked away. The crew can't do that. I did change jobs when I felt that the required prep work had gone too far.

That is odd when you think about it. Maybe the over temp is too low? But it isn't like the ingredients for pizza dough are costly.

I doubt it. It took me cumulatively 12 hours at the DMV to change from maiden to married name. I was 10 months married and 8 months pregnant. Only the thought of them insisting on my maiden name on daughter's birth certificate motivated me to go to DMV. You show up and you get your number. I had to do three visits before it got done because the first two I couldn't wait any longer and had to leave. For the third I planned on just sitting there all day if necessary. The third time, when my number was about 10 people away, I look up and see a sign that says, "Cash Only, No Change." I'd planned on using a card. So, in a panic I run out to my car to find any ATM. I'm driving around looking for an ATM and I get pulled over. I told the cop why I was driving funny and he just let me go. Even he understood the misery of DMV.