camreesmom

We always have to have one booked!

Reading this thread prompted me to purchase the Voom Surf and Stream package for my upcoming cruise. It was advertised at $13.99 per day. The total came to $111.93. Without doing the math, I paid the bill. My mistake. I just realized that $13.99 X 7 days is $97.93. Where does the extra $14 come in? Am I paying for 8 days? If that's the case, the total be should be $111.92. Anyone know the answer?

I just purchased the Voom last night at $13.99 per day and my credit card was only charged $97.93.

Last week I sailed on Liberty with extended family. When we sailed together a couple years ago, we had early fixed seating, which we found to be too early. Since we had children with us and didn't want to wait until 8 to eat, we selected MTD and I made reservations online for 6:45 each night for our group of 9. I’ve used MTD previously, but only with 2 or 4 people. I was not expecting so many issues when dining with a larger group!

 

The first night we were told that there was a mix-up and our table wasn't ready. We were given a pager and had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. We figured it was a boarding day glitch and went with the flow.

 

The second night we arrived about 5 minutes early and were told that they thought we weren't coming and had given our table away. Our reservation was in the system and the hostess couldn't explain why she thought we weren't coming. We again had to wait about 30 minutes for a table. We were frustrated, but we waited.

 

The third night I got a phone call at 6:15 asking why we were late for our reservation. We rushed to get to the dining room, thinking I had made a mistake about the reservation time. When we arrived, I found out the dining room hostess had moved our reservation to 6. She claimed she was doing us a favor because we had complained about having to wait for a table so she moved our reservation to earlier. She neglected to inform us of the change so we thought our reservation was still 6:45, as shown on my confirmation email. She then told us that because we were late, even though we did not know she had changed our reservation, they could not accommodate us that night. I’m generally not a “status” person, but I admit to mentioning being D+ C&A and having never previously experienced this type of problem with MTD. I was haughtily informed that as a D+ C&A member, I should have known that MTD was not for large groups and my party would be better accommodated in Windjammer. I just as haughtily informed her that was unacceptable. If she had an issue with large groups in the dining room, she needed to take it up with the corporate office and not blame me. Furthermore, she needed to find us a table, change the remainder of my reservations back to 6:45, and not make any other changes without my approval. I could tell I had angered her by not backing down. I think in retribution, she squashed our group of 9 at a table designed for 6 even though there were empty tables for 8 and 10 nearby. She said those were saved for people who showed up on time for their reservations.

 

The fourth night we decided to eat at Giovanni's. I stopped by the dining room around noon to let them know we would not be eating there that night. Giovanni's was wonderful! We had a very nice dinner at an appropriately-sized table that was ready for us when we arrived at our reserved time.

 

The fifth night we arrived at the dining room at 6:45 to be told that we didn’t have a reservation and would have to wait about an hour for a table. The hostess claimed that when I cancelled the reservation for the previous night, I requested to cancel all our reservations. My aunt and husband who were with me the previous day, both said I had been very clear that I only wanted to cancel the reservation for night four and none of the others. The hostess was adamant that I had cancelled all the reservations and she would not seat us. We asked to speak to her supervisor and were told he was busy and we would have to make an appointment to speak to him. We’d had a long day in port, the kids were tired and hungry, and we didn’t want to deal with further frustration so we decided to go to JR’s that night. Before we left I insisted that our reservations get re-instated for the next two nights.

 

The sixth day I stopped by the dining room around 10 to confirm that we had a reservation for 6:45 that night. I was told yes, no problem. When we left the ice show around 3, I noticed someone else was at the hostess stand so I stopped by again to confirm that we had a 6:45 reservation. Again, no problem. When we showed up at 6:45, we were told that we didn’t have a reservation and because it was lobster night, the dining room was overbooked so we would have to wait 60 – 90 minutes for a table. I asked why our reservation had been cancelled after I had confirmed it with her that morning and with someone else that afternoon. She claimed that I had cancelled it, which I denied. My husband had enough and asked to speak with her supervisor. She said that he was still too busy to see us and we needed an appointment to speak with him. My husband requested again to speak with her supervisor. He raised his voice a little, but he did not shout, use foul language, make any threats, or stand any closer than 3 feet from her. All he said was, ”Ma’am, you are not listening to me. I don’t want an appointment to speak to him later. I want to speak to him now.” However, the hostess said she felt that she was in danger and would call security if he did not leave immediately. Fortunately, my uncle realized the situation was not going well and had gone into the dining room to locate the manager himself. They came out as the hostess was calling for security. After hearing our problem, the manager seated us at what he claimed was normally the Captain’s table. I don’t know if that was true, but it was sized to accommodate 10 people. We had to wait for the staff to set the table since it appeared they did not expect it to be used that night, but we weren’t squashed together, which was nice. The manager said he would make sure that we had a table the next night. The couple who were in line behind us and heard the conversation at the hostess stand stopped by to let us know security showed up but the couple didn’t hear what the hostess told them. They could tell we were frustrated with the hostess but they didn’t think my husband was a threat to anybody. They thought the hostess had overreacted.

 

The seventh day I stopped by the dining room around 1 to confirm that we had a reservation for 6:45 that night. The hostess told me yes and that I needed to keep my husband away from her. He didn’t want to be near her either so I didn’t see that being an issue. I went to the dining room at 6:30 to re-confirm we had a reservation and that we would have a table on time. When the rest of my group arrived, the manager escorted us to a table in an alcove in the very back of the dining room away from the other diners. I didn’t like the location, but I was happy that they finally got us an appropriately sized table at our reserved dining time.

 

Forgive the long post, but is this the normal experience? I know large groups can be difficult to accommodate, but are there any tips or tricks to make dining smoother, other than eating in Windjammer every night? It seemed pointless to make reservations when we only got to eat at our reserved time once. Is it better to not make reservations and just send someone to the dining room around 6 or 6:30 to pick up a pager for the group?

 

Of course, we might be banned from sailing with RC because of the hostess. No one from security ever spoke with us so I don’t know whether we will have a problem booking in the future or not.

Like they say, hindsight is 20/20 but I just thought of something else. Since you are diamond/diamond +, did you ever mention anything to the Diamond Concierge? We had a small issue and the Diamond Concierge (Anas) took care of it for us.

I'm just sorry that you had to deal with that, especially at the end of every day.

For this large of a group, what were your table arrangements?

We were seated at 3 tables adjacent to each other. A 10-top, an 8-top and a 6-top.

In all fairness, my husband and I were on the same cruise May 7-14. We spoke with the head waiter and were actually able to pick the exact 3 tables that we wanted for our group on the June 4-11 cruise. I didn't know this previously but the wait staff doesn't work in the same area of the dining room or even with the same team (waiter & asst waiter) each cruise. So we ended up with different servers but still had amazing service.

I'm going to post a review later because the service that we received on this cruise was over and beyond our expectations.

I'm sorry that happened to your group. I'm interested to see if other groups have had the same issues. We were on the same cruise with a group of 23. We had late seating dinner so no problems in the MDR.

Nachi Cocum or Mr. Sanchos in Cozumel.....

Jewel Runaway Bay in Falmouth. We booked thru resort for a day also. We've been to Hilton Rose Hall several times but went to Jewel Runaway Bay earlier this month and their water park/lazy river is newer than the Hilton. We also thought that the food was better.

Are there ice cream machines on board the Liberty that offer free ice cream or froyo?

Yes, there is Sprinkles by the main pool for free soft serve. There is also Ben & Jerry's on the Promenade for $$.

We were on May 7-14 and MTD was on the 3rd floor. We had late seating dinner and were on deck 4.

They were still selling the soda package on day 6 of a 7 day cruise earlier this month of the Liberty.

Would you be able to get a key to the other room if you are booked in a different room?

Yes, you just go to Guest Services once onboard. They'll give you a card that says KEY ONLY.

It won't be a problem on the ship. When our kids were little, there weren't any quad rooms available and there weren't any connecting doubles left either. We ended up booking two doubles with me in one with one child and my husband in one with the other child. Once on the ship, we just stayed in one cabin and the other stayed empty. Our two year old slept in the bed with us and the room steward brought us a trundle for our 4 year old. It worked out perfectly for us and no one on the ship cared.

We just got off the Liberty a week ago. We took a case of water, an 8 pack of bottled cokes and an 8 pack of bottled Sprite. Packed them in a suitcase by themselves, it was delivered to the room along with our other luggage. No trip to the naughty room required.

We really enjoy the Liberty. We just got off on Sunday and will be sailing on her again next month with our kids. It's big enough that it has plenty of bells and whistles but not so big that we can't find each other.

We were on the sailing right after you, May 7th. I completely agree with you on the MDR wait staff. They are spread way too thin. Also, we learned that the waiters do not always have the same assistant waiters. They can change from each cruise. That makes no sense to me.....just when they are working great as a team, they split them up.

My absolute favorite is the Grand Marnier soufflé. We just got off the Liberty OTS yesterday. The key lime pie was good and so was the crème brulee. I love the oatmeal raisin cookies, too.

We are interested in the same info for the Falmouth - GC - Cozumel sailing for the same reason.

Thanks.

We'd like the menus for this route also if anyone has them.

How do you add OBC to your account?

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Love Connection

Mango Tango

Miami Vice

Caipirinha

Can the coffee card be shared? Or is it only good for the person who bought it?

We're thinking of trying Jewel Runaway Bay in June. We've been to Hilton Rose Hall 3 times and the whole family enjoyed the water park but are interested in trying something new this time.

I believe a Miami Vice is 1/2 pina colada, 1/2 strawberry daquiri.

Try a Mango Tango (1/2 pina colada, 1/2 mango daquiri) or a Love Connection (1/3 pina colada, 1/3 mango daquiri, 1/3 strawberry daquiri). YUMMY!!!!!

Only 10 more days and I'll be drinking these!

Just off from last week and we stayed on ship time (Galveston time).

Which may or may not have been island time, never checked.

Do you happen to have the Cruise Compasses? Were you on the Belize, Roatan, Cozumel itinerary or the Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Cozumel itinerary?

We've been using them since 2009 without any problems. They are really easy to work with. We've booked both the Sunset Grand in Montego Bay and the Hilton Rose Hall more than once when we were docked in Falmouth.

Just did a B2B on the Navigator & can't wait to be back in February! Another vote for Sabor. We ate there twice and the guacamole is AMAZING!!! Definitely go hungry. The bartenders in the Diamond Lounge, Brent & Francisco, were the best we've ever had.

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We just got off the Navigator and pre-purchased the photo package with both the digital and print options. We definitely got our money's worth. We brought home over 120 8x10 prints and there were 177 photos on our disc. We took our kids plus my mother so we had 3 cabins total which they linked together. There were also pics of other people in our group but not in our cabins that ended up on our disc (even if no one in our 3 linked cabins were in the photo) so that was strange but we definitely didn't mind. We could have added all their printed photos in and the person working the photo desk wouldn't have caught it because they didn't look at any of the pics in our folio. It was kind of weird.

We probably wouldn't purchase the package if it were just my husband and I traveling but will definitely do it again if we have the family with us.