TwoMisfits

OP, I would just plan on paying the child fee for the older child.  It's $10, and it makes everything easy.  If your children eat nothing, and the waiter/manager decides to pixie dust you after eating, all the better.  But this way, you don't have to worry about...anything...related to dining there, separate than your kids' needs.

And I do get kid sensory issues.  The Easter holiday of vomit at the Outback b/c my spouse didn't stop the waitstaff from putting apples with peel in front of my son fast enough will forever live in my memory.  The kids don't mean to be difficult eaters - they just are:).

Yeah, I don't know why they'd match anyone anymore with the diamond vouchers usable anywhere...all they are doing is giving money hand over fist to folks who didn't "earn" it with prior spending.

It's not like there's really anything that now splits a family on board if someone has status and someone doesn't.  And the drink vouchers can be shared with other people, so if an adult kid wants a drink, the adult parent can still give them a free one from their own benefits...

2 hours ago, LobsterStalker said:

Sounds great , but I'm not sure how this gets them served at the same time , just 1 after the other as we can already ..?

If it were me - Ask for it served family style - you'd like the plate delivered with each person's solo entree b/c you will share it at your table...even if you don't.

Spectacular.  My fam and I swim on a cruise (not lay out), so we only need 1 chair for all 6 of our stuff, and we just find one when we arrive at the pools.  It would be nice to not struggle to find a chair.

19 hours ago, TwoMisfits said:

I booked my May 2024 cruise on MLK weekend 2023 - every week I see this cruise climb higher (and yet, if I try to book a room, there are tons of my type available).  I'm glad I got in at the price I did, which is about $2K less than it would cost me for the same 2 interior cabins for 3 now...

And now it's officially a full 2K less...another sale, another $120 ($20/person) increase.  Crazy!

53 minutes ago, HappyTexan44 said:

Last fall I booked a cruise for Feb 2024.   It wasn't as soon as the cruise was available, but they'd only had up to Mar 2024 loaded.  Some friends recently decided to book the same cruise, same number of people and same cabin class (next to us) and they paid almost twice what we did.  
 

I booked my May 2024 cruise on MLK weekend 2023 - every week I see this cruise climb higher (and yet, if I try to book a room, there are tons of my type available).  I'm glad I got in at the price I did, which is about $2K less than it would cost me for the same 2 interior cabins for 3 now...

21 hours ago, Vacationdreamer<>< said:

I prepay. 
I like to have as much behind me as possible. 

Since I have 2 cabins and 6 total people, I always prepay to keep the daily bills cleaner, so errors are much easier to spot (I have had to fix 1-2 mis-bills over my cruises)...

16 hours ago, cruisegirl1 said:

Yes -  seems folks are still paying whatever price is quoted.  It is ON SALE for $169.99 pp for my upcoming cruise.

 

M

That's my sale price, too - $169.99.  It does make this an easy pass for my family, too.  Reg price is listed at $179.

I told the spouse I'd spend $2K extra on special stuff for the spouse/kids (since we already have the cruise and grats prepaid).  There are 6 of us, so that's not as much money as it seems.  But it appears that with RCCL's "extras" pricing, that money is gonna go to the ports, b/c my value bones just can't spring for things tons pricier than NYC/Las Vegas.

Which is okay, b/c it's been 6 years since we've been on RCCL (once we cruise), so everything, even the free stuff, will be brand new (especially since this is also a new ship for us)...so free stuff only it might be, which I'm okay with...

But I hold out hope for Mem Day/Labor Day/Black Friday/New Years deals...

7 minutes ago, raoden said:

I hope they do.  I am cruising on the Harmony in about 3 weeks. I will post back on this thread how accommodating the MDR is regarding off the menu vegetarian/vegan requests.

 

Your idea of a base vegan dish with an option to add cheeses/milk products/meat on top is a great one. I wish the cruise lines would listen

Thanks, I actually have a few base dishes, not just a salad, that would work in my mental mind...some even fit the food theme nights (like another could be a raw bruschetta topped grilled protein with a white bean ragu and a macedonia fruit salad for Italian night, vs "have a vegan pasta" - I did this for a murder mystery dinner party for chicken breast, chicken thigh, and roasted portobello b/c I had folks who only ate chicken breast, folks who only ate chicken thigh, and folks who ate vegan - and one person didn't eat the topping, but since it was raw topping and added after the protein cook, that was an easy leave-off - see component cooking at its best)...

1 hour ago, soremekun said:

Can someone please explain the differences between the dining options and why there isn't an option to opt out when selecting one vs the other?

My Time Dining rotates time and wait staff, while traditional dining does not.

So, it's probably 2 reasons why customers are not allowed to opt out.

1. There is no singular waitstaff to blame for bad service since patrons experience so many.

2. The percent who were opting out of automatic tips after choosing MTD was enormous, so to shut that down, they include the inability to opt out, as they do on some international cruises.

3 hours ago, ShillyShally said:

I expect it's all a bit of a work in progress. I expect they'll make adaptations as they learn what works and what doesn't. I think they have to honor some requests for those that aren't accommodated by the menu since the menus have more than one option for those who do eat meat/fish and one or possibly two for those who don't (from menus I've seen it's one option per category).  I do agree it would be great if they made base vegan dishes that people could add cheese or meat to if they wanted, it would streamline the kitchen too, but they haven't asked me for my insights 🙂  

There's a restaurant I frequent in Williamsburg that is on the top 10 allergy places to eat in America that does this.  It's genius to have a "make your own" dish that can be pieced together, and that was the one thing that shocked me that wasn't on the menu.  Even if that dish is a main course "make your own salad" with the ability to add (say, like select up to 3 - grilled steak, fish, chicken, tofu, portobello mushroom, cheese, eggs, chick'n, etc, etc) to a salad of raw and/or cooked veg with an oil and lemon or oil and vinegar dressing...

Key for my cruise is $42.99/person/day before tax...that's too rich for my blood right now.

I told the spouse it would have to reduce by at least half for me to buy it...just b/c I'd be buying for 6...so the internet included is only so valuable...

Although it was nice the price started so high.  It took the "do I buy" decision right out of my mental calculus b/c at that price, it was so obviously no.

Same as the all-in alcohol package - right now, it's "on sale" for $79.99/day plus tax/tip.  Spouse told me at that price, he'd rather just stick to a drink a day and a coffee out of pocket.  We'll see if that one drops later...

I guess it's nice the May 2024 prices are so high...it keeps all the money in my pocket for things I don't actually need to enjoy the ship...

Thanks for all the updates, and I'm glad you found out how to get the Udi cookies.

I'll probably be the same for the single serve plain potato chips, b/c those and (some) pretzels are about the only salty snacks I can have with my allergies - it will be me on board trying to figure out who might still have them so I can have something "naughty" on board, while my kids go to town on fries, fried stuff, cakes, and pastries...

Since you had The Key, what activities had dedicated "Key" times for the week?  And how often did they have them (or do you have the actual schedule)?

The other huge problem with Indian is that if it's authentic, it's terrible for allergies and dairy/nut intolerances (even before you talk some of the spiciness issues and actual spice intolerances, which some folks also can't handle).  Lots of dairy and tree nuts underpin almost all of the famous Indian cuisine dishes.

If you remove all the dairy (including the ghee), you are getting less authenticity, which would then make it taste less good for the masses.

I could see a free restaurant for Indian, but Indian served on ship is cheap, and the ship would LOVE everyone to eat that and order a ton of it.  They don't want to take it away from main dining - they'd rather add more to main dining if they thought everyone could and would eat it.

14 hours ago, dboff123 said:

Off Symphony today. We used a gift card the entire time. It needs to be used at Starbucks and will not be accepted at Cafe Promenade.

Thanks for this info. 

12 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Paranoid much?

It's not paranoid.  It's reality.  The bean counters know all this data.  And I'm sure management asks them for the info. 

All the tipping data is there b/c it's all electronic.  It would be bad management on Royal's part if they didn't know, and bad representation on the employee negotiator side if they didn't know.  So, they all know.

But, if you're tipping, you truly have nothing to be worried or paranoid about.

You do get the service you pay for.

And just like at a land restaurant, if you remove the tip, you are leaving yourself open to having subpar service offered to you on future cruises, especially in your room and the main dining hall (where you are exactly identified).

Now that this is all digitized, I am sure that the cruise management is very aware in the aggregate of what percent of returning cruisers on their sailing have removed tips in the past, and they may even know that info person by person.

TL/DR - If I ever remove tips, I'm not going back on a cruise on that cruise line for a decade+.  

41 minutes ago, Husky1987 said:

Percentage of cruisers that remove auto gratuities:  10%

 

Percentage of cruisers that remove auto gratuities who tell everyone they tip in cash "to those who serve them":  100%

 

Percentage of cruisers that remove auto gratuities who tell everyone they tip in cash "to those who serve them", then actually do tip in cash to those who serve them:  10%

A truer post has never been written...

22 hours ago, ARandomTraveler said:

Mine went on "margarita day" sale too. $54.99/day. If it was a 7 day cruise, I miiiiiight buy it, just because it's so much cheaper than I've ever seen it, even though I know I wouldn't get my money's worth even at that price.
 

But my cruise is a 12-day. Ain't no way I'm spending $778 per person on drinks. We got tired of sugary drinks by day 4 with the refreshment package so I just don't see us getting anywhere close to a good value on this, even at $54.99.

$54.99 is the number I'll buy it as a gift for the spouse (he wants to pay under $50, but I don't see that happening).  Just for the reason you said - after 2-3 days, even if he drinks the full "come out a tiny bit ahead" 4 drinks the 1st few, he won't want as many later, so this way, he doesn't feel pressure to overdrink beyond what he actually would drink...

Under this new sale, my cabins went up even more...now, for each person, it's up $120, or $720 total, since I booked.  I think May 2024 will be a popular sailing month...

4 minutes ago, Ocean Boy said:

Three cocktails a day at @ $16.52 (including the 18%) is $49.56.

That, plus a cup of specialty coffee is about the daily price I want to pay for the spouse (about $60/day)...

11 hours ago, bmarts said:

It's not even worth it anymore. I'd just rather have a few beverages out of pocket than pay those prices 

That is what my spouse said when I told him current weekly prices are more than his cruise fare with gratuities...

That said, if it goes back to something reasonable on a Black Friday sale (since we cruise in 2024), I'll buy him the plan b/c he really does enjoy it.  I think his "reasonable" number is lower than mine, but he won't know.

I'm not a vegan, but b/c of my allergies, I tend to eat a lot of vegan foods, especially desserts.  Thanks for the pics and reviews of all the new vegan foods on the menus.  It's helped me immensely!