er345

Probably B) they haven’t updated the literature.

I agree with the above poster that I have never encountered a cocktail that went over the limit,  just the high end wine or scotch.

If you have HBO at home you can watch it on the HBO go app on an iPad. DH travels every week for work and watches all the HBO shows on the app.  You would need Voom to stream it that way.

I was lamenting that we will be traveling to a graduation on May 19th and I don’t want to miss the finale.  So I’ll be rudely sneaking off somewhere to watch my iPad that night. 

Thanks for sharing.  After reading about the recent travelers having such a hard time getting into Florida last weekend it just reinforces the wisdom of leaving yourself plenty of extra time pre-cruise.

On our very first cruise we were delayed and while we did arrive in Miami the afternoon before embarking, none of our luggage made it.  We stayed in the airport until about 1:00am awaiting the promised luggage, which was still not there.  So we checked into our hotel and went back to the airport the next morning and luckily our luggage arrived before noon.  But we realized how close we were to buying everything in Miami before boarding.

Now I am very conscientious about packing my carry on.  And even on the way home.  We have also been stuck overnight at a connecting airport on our trip back home. 

We we are cruising out of Seattle this time so it’s less stressful, but I’m also worried about our short layovers in MN.

I’m wondering if this is brand new.  I had no problem finding half and half for my coffee on Symphony in March.  I would be very sad to find out there wasn’t any on future cruises.  If the only thing available was powdered packets I would go without. Or just stick to lattes. 

I will politely disagree about the tipping culture on cruise ships.  It has changed since I started cruising.  There were no specialty packages with an 18% service charge built in back then.  On our first cruises we brought plenty of cash.  We tipped bartenders as we went, and put cash in all those envelopes to hand to our cabin steward, waiter, assistant waiter etc.  

I like the convenience of built in tips and still add extra cash for only those that have made my trip extra special.  

Personally I think of the specialty restaurants as similar to a nice dinner out wherever we are. Except part of the meal cost is subsidized by our cruise fare.  For our family of 4 we would expect to pay around $200 for a nice restaurant meal with appetizers and dessert. So the waiter would get $40 tip.

Here we will only be paying $100 per meal for 4 of us with the package. (Actually my original post on this thread didn’t have the right math. $100 pp for the 4 night dining comes out to about $85 for the meal and $15 for the service charge.) I don’t even know if our waiter will receive the entire $15 from our package price.  I will not mind giving the waiter extra in cash. No guilt being laid here, just another point of view. 

Is that $103 just for the Salmon Bake?!!

We bought an excursion through Royal Caribbean for the Mendenhall Glacier and the Salmon Bake together for $70 pp.  That seemed reasonable to me. 

Thank you so much for this!!!

And thank you to the person that just bumped up the thread.  I somehow missed this when it was first posted in February.  I’ve been looking for good Ovation reviews. This was very helpful.

You are probably right that the AC/DC band won’t be there in Alaska.  So sad. My family would love to hear them.

I love this idea! I think my kids will get into decorating a few to leave on Ovation.

My son got us started leaving quarters all around public places, like airports, train stations, CVS, gas stations etc.  When he was little he would ask me for some and then leave them around in McDonalds etc.  I asked him why and he said that if people like finding a penny think about how excited they would be to find a quarter! So now I keep all my quarters handy to spread the love.

I’m not sure where it is showing it includes drinks up to $12.  But I’m pretty sure that whatever the going rate for popular drinks (such as the frozen ones) is, that is what is included in the DBP. Royal isn’t trying to ding you for an extra $1.18 per drink.   That would probably drive the bartenders crazy. From my experience, it is the rare drink, like an expensive wine by the glass that makes you go over.  And at least the wine prices are clearly marked. 

We will be using a 4 night dining package on an upcoming cruise that cost us $100 per person.  If there is an 18% service charge built in that means we paid $18 each so far in tips that has to be divided among the 4 restaurants.  I think it would be terrible if we don’t tip each waiter something extra in cash. So thanks for bringing the subject up, so that I remember to set aside cash for each evening. 

54 minutes ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Having a discussion on another social media site. I you have the unlimited dining package, can you have appetizers in one restaurant, main  dinner in another and dessert in the third.    Or simply use the unlimited option  for   dessert in a different restaurant from  where you had dinner?

Thanks for any info. 

M

I think the problem may be in getting that many reservations.  What you are suggesting might require 3 reservations and how far apart do you make them? It’s logistically challenging.  However I’m guessing that if a restaurant isn’t booked or crowded, you could walk up and ask for seating just for apps or dessert by showing them your UDP on the card.

I guess we will all find out once passengers report back.

On Symphony it was drinks up to $13, and many drinks were $13.

I think it depends on the venue.  For the aqua theater and comedy shows definitely get there as early as you can. These fill up quickly.

Studio B has a lot of seats blocked by columns, so get there early if you want to choose your seats for the best viewing.  Of course the skaters are constantly in motion you can see from all the seats, but still some are better.  

IMO the Royal Theater is where it doesn’t make as much of a difference.  The theater is huge and I think all the seats are fine.  But if you have a preference then get there early to choose.  

Anybody with it’s a large group should get there 30 minutes before performance time or split up.  Please don’t be the people staking out both ends of a row and saving seats for your 10 friends or family who aren’t there.

32 minutes ago, Deseo1578 said:

When they run this sales are they for everyone? or just trips that are starting soon. Mine is january 19, 2020 and do not see any sale online. If I call would they honor it?

 

Thanks

“Sales” are not universal.  You will eventually see price fluctuations in your cruise planner from week to week. In my cruise planner there are some excursions marked with promotional banners all the time. Some are marked Pre-cruise dal, some are 10% off onboard prices and some are 20% off onboard prices. The week I first booked two different excursions, others were on sale but not my choices.  Since then, mine have been reduced twice, so I cancel and rebook.

If I hadn’t been informed by others here at cruise critic, I never would have thought to keep checking.

So I canceled and rebooked my Alaskan excursions again today.  I previously posted how both of my purchased excursions had disappeared from the 50 options.  I assumed they were sold out. Today they both showed up again and at a deeper discount than before.  The first price drop saved me $108 for 4 of us.  Today I took another $96 off. So it did pay to keep checking every day.

I’m sure you will hear positives about all the rooms.

We had an ocean view balcony on deck 8 in March.  For us it was definitely worth it.

I am not a fan of the crowded pool decks.  I would not find it relaxing to read in a lounger on deck.  We used the balcony every day.  Deck 8 is super convenient to Park Cafe for coffee and snacks, and Vintages for a glass of wine. Also an easy 3 flights down to the Cafe Promenade on deck 5 for specialty coffee.  Had my latte every morning on the balcony, plus wine in the evenings. We read on the balcony, DH took a nap out there twice, we caught up on the world with our WiFi. The balcony chairs recline and there are footstools. If all 3 of you will be in one cabin, this gives you options for where to sit.

Many others spend very little time in their cabins so the quiet retreat of the balcony might not be worth the $.  But we have no regrets.

Symphony is a wonderful ship so you will enjoy your trip whichever way you go.

Definitely don’t wait until Black Friday.  It’s so close to your sail date that the lowest prices may not be available then.  For both our March 2019 and August 2019 cruises I did see low prices on dining, beverage etc. over the Thanksgiving weekend.  But I’ve seen those same low prices repeated in various “sales” since then.  The closer it got to our March cruise, the higher prices got.

50 minutes ago, BNBR said:

 

Because they are coming!  If I order $35 in food at playmakers, is the waiter going to make sure nobody else at my table eats any of it?

I was thinking the same thing but was too chicken to post, thinking all the haters would get on my case about sharing.

It occurred to me to upgrade one of us to the UDP just for the snacks and extras.  We have the 4 night package for all four of us, so we are good for specialty dinners. But I’m not sure we would get the benefit of an unlimited plan. I will pay attention this time on how many “extras” we buy to see if it’s worth it for the next time.  Of course by then the price will be higher.

Yes. So many questions to be answered.

I think you can use both the $35 and the regular specialty dining in the same day.  My interpretation of unlimited would mean you could use a $35 credit at one venue for lunch and another $35 for dinner.  Say lunch at Playmakers and sushi dinner at Izumi.  But that’s just my take.  I will wait for real reviews to see how it works.

Since Playmakers and Johnny Rockets aren’t mentioned by name, I am wondering if the $35 a la cart credit applies?  That would be what would make this reasonable for me.  I can’t actually see myself eating lunch and dinner every day at just the specialty dining locations.  But I could easily add afternoon snacks at Playmakers and appetizers at Vintages several days. 

The price of Unlimited vs Ultimate did stay the same in my cruise planner at $199 for Ovation.  But I already have the 4 night package at $100 pp.  I’m not yet convinced it’s worth the extra hundred dollars each to add in lunches. (Yes I know I could get 3 more dinners, but I’d rather mix in the Solarium, and maybe Coastal Kitchen too. )  I guess I will wait for some May and June reviews to hear from people who get it.

Is the long delay on the refund a UK thing? Just curious. 

I have ave cancelled and rebooked many times.  I have noticed a smaller delay on our US credit card.  It usually doesn’t matter as both the refund and the new charge are on the same monthly statement.  But once when the charge was at the end of the billing cycle, the refund (posted 3 days later) showed up on the next statement. I agree that it seems like it should be possible to post the refund the same day.  

I’m so excited for you! This sounds like an amazing vacation. 

And I’m excited because it’s bringing Ovation one step closer to Alaska!

Can’t wait to hear about it!

I did the cancel and rebook thing about a month ago when our Alaskan excursions went down.  I am so glad I booked in advance because both of the ones I chose disappeared the next week.  I’m assuming it is because those particular ones sold out.  I keep checking and they haven’t popped back up.  But new ones are shown now that weren’t options a couple of months ago.

Bottom line is that excursions are the same as everything else on RCI.  Constantly in flux depending on supply and demand.  

We did the one on Symphony.  I think there was plenty of room, but we only had 8 people in our time slot.  At times people were crowding around the same clues, so you can be in close proximity to others.  But you would have the choice to back away and give yourself the needed space.  I will tell you it seems a bit dark.  Not like nighttime but the atmosphere for the Symphony room is being inside a submarine.  I don’t know if that makes a difference for you.

The activities person being in the room does make a big difference in the feeling of not being trapped.  Ours was delightful and I have no doubt that the person would let you leave if it were necessary.  

Just now, Marbel69 said:

So it's part of the cruise price?  I just want to make sure I won't be charged to eat there.

 

Thank you.

You will not be charged to eat in the Solarium for dinner.  I already have my reservations made for our next cruise.

I honestly don’t know if they serve the upcharge items there like in the MDR, if so, that would be the exception.