KansasK

We finally made it to Diamond a few cruises back and seldom visit the Diamond Lounges because we cruise with people who cannot get in. The three free drinks on our card suits us fine and we go to less crowded bars with our friends.

We are not young anymore, but still don't expect doors to open for us or for there to be room for us wherever we want to go on the ship. The second week of our upcoming B2B cruise, it will just be the two of us and we thought about checking out the DL. We will try to pick a time that is not before dinner. ;)

I liked the Viking Crown Lounge, but I am moving on to other lounges since I can no longer walk into this lounge. The change happened after we booked these cruises, but we never thought of cancelling over this. There are too many other places to sit and enjoy a drink. I will find a new favorite bar. Any suggestions?

I was on the Oasis last May and men wearing suits on formal night outnumbered those who did not. This may have just been for this cruise, but as someone said before, most of the passengers are not on Cruise Critic.

I suspect it is because the TAs gobble them up. We were on Liberty & cruised the Med last fall and MTD was the only thing available until we transfrred the reservation to our TA. Then we were given the opportunity to move to early or late. We decided to stay with MTD and we were happy.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

We were also told TA's are promised a large part of the dining room. When they return the cabins they did not sell, that's when I think we were moved from MTD to traditional early dining. I think the policy works against their guests who book directly with RCI.

I wonder if this is unique to RCI. With Carnival, when 11 months out, they put you in traditional dining when you make the reservation. This does not seem hard for them to do, but is impossible for RCI to do.

Being put in MTD when making the reservation and later being moved to traditional dining started for us about two years ago with RCI.

Thanks for the information on Nellie's Beach. We might give it a try for snorkeling.

Other ports are better for snorkeling, but sure, but we are not beach people and wanted to do something at Labadee. Certainly the price will be right!

We will visit Labadie on the second week of our back to back cruise. We remember being able to snorkel from a beach some years back before Labadie was expanded. Is it possible to snorkel from a beach and see any coral/fish?

If so, which beach is it? Thanks!

That part of the statement is pretty good. Maybe if I lived in Florida and cruised more often or traveled with large families I'd feel different, but (putting on flameproof suit) I'm on vacation, I don't want to have to bother with that effort. I've probably paid 2-3k$ just to get to the ship for 7 day cruises. I see people with $1000 bar bills taking on cases of water, I'll spend $75 bucks for their water package and not try to calculate how much per bottle I'm paying.

 

I agree!

LOL -lot of fun with words on this one!

Even though I am smiling at the posts before mine, I am sorry for the disappointment some cruisers on this ship must feel.

Might be completely wrong on this, but its my theory that RC allows TAs to put holds on blocks of rooms, along with fixed dining to go with the rooms.

Later, when the TAs have not sold the rooms, they are released, and the corresponding fixed dining is available.

If this is the case, wish they wouldn't do this.

I believe this is true, too. We are always waitlisted for early dining and later, so far, we have gotten it.

I believe something else has changed, also. On our Oasis cruise, my brother could not even get waitlisted for early dining. Our last few cruises have been like this. Getting early traditional dining is a hassle. Royal needs to fix this.

This did not happen on Carnival when we booked 11 months out, or even 6 months to the cruise. We have traditional early dining from the reservation date. It used to be this way on Royal, but not anymore. Royal seems to adopt dining policies that work against their passengers.

In Jamie's Italian Restaurant, the chairs look like they are plastic and the legs look kind of flimsy. Maybe they are not, but it looks like you would not want to weigh too much if you want to sit on them.

I never could find the payment option, either. I had it on previous cruises, but this is our first B2B and other posters have explained it is because of the B2B. I called in the payments and it worked out fine. They had an option to press # to make a payment. I never had to wait long at all, if at all.

Boarding by C&A status and not allowing family members with you who are a lower C& A status to board with you is a poorly thought out policy.

In the past they did not seem to care that my brother boarded with us. We are diamond and he was gold.

RCI seems to be losing track of what people want. Boarding with your family is important to people. Rigid policies like these obviously upset and annoy people. Turning someone away from the diamond lounge or suite and pinnacle lounge who is not at that C&A level is one thing. But for boarding??!

I think the fact that they build innovative ships is their biggest plus. When Oasis was being built, I watched a video from a link they e-mailed to me. They said "we build amazing!" I think they did and did again with the Quantum.

The worst is their sales where the pricing is so convoluted that you cannot understand the sale.

I have had good luck with the inch of gold/silver jewelry that I have bought. Maybe I have been lucky. The two company excuse is a good way to claim they do not have to ever fix the jewelry. The mob atmosphere around the inch of gold/silver cart has stopped me from even looking on the last few cruises.

We will be on the Oasis in February and booked last July. The ship was to have early and late traditional dining and MTD in the dining room. It was scheduled to be remodeled for DD at that time, but in February, we would still have traditional dining.

From the start, we were told early traditional dining was full and were put on a waiting list and put into MTD. My brother booked at the same time and he was not put on a waiting list and MTD was his only choice. We were diamond and he was platinum status. We were eventually given early traditional dining, but he was not though our reservations were linked. In calling about this, both my brother and I were told that there was a long wait list for both early and late dining and the dining room was closed at both times.

There has to be a reduction in seats available.

I eventually called to make a payment and the person I spoke to asked if he could help me in any other way. I gave it another try and explained that my brother is a single person with us on the cruise and cannot even get on the wait list for early dining. He said both traditional dining times were closed, but he would e-mail dining and e-mail me the results. A week later I got an e-mail that my brother had been moved to early dining and our reservations were again linked.

If only diamond level or above guests get to eat with traditional dining at either time without special intervention, there have to be fewer seats in the dining room.

RCI needs to stop playing games when you book a year ahead and they tell you that early traditional dining is already full. They put you in MTD and then charge you the tips. A month to two months later, you get put into traditional early dining. This did not happen until about two years ago. No one believes early dining is full a year out from the cruise date. This would only apply to ships that still have traditional dining.

I have been on Carnival ships and this never happens. We ask for early traditional dining and get it, like we once did on Royal Caribbean.

This also would not work well for people traveling with friends or family who are not pinnacle, diamond plus or diamond, unless they just let them board with you like they do now.

I enjoy the Oasis and Allure and the Freedom is one of my favorite ships. Like others have said, in the summer this is what you have to cruise on. The summer before last, we found the prices on all three ships too high for us.

We ended up booking on the Carnival Liberty and had a good cruise. We were even given an upgrade from an inside room to an aft balcony. I prefer Royal Caribbean, but sometimes they price themselves too high for us, or we want to try a different ship.

I am diamond level and will enjoy the sea view from the new Diamond lounge. I will miss the Viking Crown lounge, but that won't stop me from enjoying the Oasis next February.

change is hard for people and the OP might see a brighter picture in time.

We just returned from cruise on the Navigator of the seas. Two weeks prior to cruise, RCCL website posted a WOW promotion for the speciality restaurants. They offered 15% off one, 20% off two and 30% off three. These had to be prebooked and prepaid. We called RCCL, reserved three restaurants and paid. The representative assured us that we would receive this discount, applied as a shipboard credit. Unfortunately the Navigator refused to honor this promotion. When we went to the guest services desk, the manager (Anna) was rude and just ignored us. She stated she didn't have time to discuss this and if we wanted this discount to show her proof. Apparently customer service is not in her job description. Another couple was at the desk with the same problem and they were treated the same way. There is a lack of communication between the ships and the RCCL website.

Just a warning. Print out everything from the website, request written confirmation through email and be sure to bring written copies.

Apparently RCCL has a history of changing promotions while you are at sea. We will never pre-pay again. Once you get on the ship, restaurants offer 20% discounts.

I was surprised at the rudeness at customer service. To ask for proof, if done in a polite way, is not out of line, but to say she did not have time to discuss this is unacceptable. Her job is to have time for each problem a guest brings. If she has to get back to you, then that is OK, too, but to just blow you off is not doing her job.

Possibly the OP has My Time Dining and cannot get the reservation times they want. Maybe this is why they suggested the Windjammer and other free dining options.

Or if they want traditional dining, it was closed for the early dining time maybe two months ago.

I always enjoyed the atmosphere on the ship on formal night. On the ships that had the Captain's night on a formal night, the Promenade would be full of dressed up people enjoying champagne. I will probably dress up in my version of formal to eat at the Grande, but the evening won't have the special feel to it with most of the ship being dressed down quite a bit.

I don't think the Grande will be half empty since they probably won't enforce a dress code. People will feel they have a right to eat in that restaurant dressed as they like, just as they argue now on formal nights to eat in the dining room dressed as they like. I think the Grande will be as full as the other restaurants.

I will be on the Oasis at the end of February, just before the change to Dynamic Dining. We will enjoy our last formal nights.

Why not just pay the balance due when it's due? Seems like these "payment plans" people put themselves on serve no purpose other than to lead to exactly this type of screwup...:confused:

I think whether you pay in full at final payment time or whether you prefer to pay it off in intervals you set for yourself, it is still the responsibility of the customer service rep to repeat what he/she is putting on your card before processing it.

I have paid for cruises both ways. When I pay it off monthly, I always specify the amount and make sure they repeat it before I provide the card number. Last cruise I was paying for five people. It just worked out better for us to pay it off in smaller amounts. They are set up to take partial payments - this customer service rep was not thinking.

My brother lost his wife five years ago and is currently booked as a single on our cruise on the Oasis. He recently met someone and might add her, but it would be after final payment. I wonder if he can still add someone after final payment.