TM38Rob

The least amount charge to my credit card following a cruise was $7, thanks to a $50 OBC from a WOW sale and an additional $245 OBC from a price drop.

For those who are looking forward to DD, good for you. Hope you enjoy it.

 

For those who attack people who are not looking forward to DD, how can you say you can't be against something unless you try it first when the same logic can be applied to How can you look forward to something that hasn't even been tested yet?

 

I don't need to waste my money to see that DD isn't going to work for me just as you can say you are looking forward to DD. One size doesn't fit all.

 

For me sailing solo, I look forward to traditional dining with an awaiting assigned table with the same tablemates and waitstaff every night. This is an automatic icebreaker. You quickly get beyond the where you from and what do you do stage and actually have meaningful conversation. You look forward to meeting again the next night (for the most part) and ask each other about how your day went and activities you did, etc.

 

As for alternatives to traditional dining for solos, nothing compares or even comes close to being a suitable substitute. So let's not go there.

 

ChipLondon, I haven't sailed Oasis yet (next month), but I can see how DD would work on that ship with all the specialty restaurants. Hope the DD experience is a good one for you, and look forward to your review of the experience as well as the menu items in the future.

 

Retrofitting it to the Voyager and Freedom class ships, however, is a tougher pill to swallow. To add another restaurant (and more cabins) to the DD experiment, the 2 story nightclubs (Chamber, Dungeon, etc.) are being eliminated. Double Whammy in my book.

I voted for Sovereign class based on the number of cruises I've sailed:

 

Sovereign-class: 5

Voyager-class: 3

Freedom-class: 2

Radiance-class: 1

Oasis-class: (One and done next month)

Vision-class: Not yet

Quantum-class: Not likely

 

If you combine the Freedom-class and Voyager-class, then there's a tie with the Sovereign-class.

I had heard that the Sovereign and Monarch were transferred to Pullmantur due to upcoming EPA Sulfur regulations at the time that have since gone into effect. It's too expensive to retro fit the fleet with new scrubbers, but they are allowed an offset for every ship with the scrubbers. Not exactly sure how it works, but I think Majesty's sulfur emissions combined with the rest of the fleet is under the limit, Monarch would have put them over the limit if she stayed in the fleet.

 

There was a rumor a few years ago that Majesty of the Seas was sold to Korean-based All That Cruise http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4472, however, it was just a rumor.

On the Royal Caribbean home page under "Plan A Cruise", there is a link under Quantum of the Seas for "Onboard Experience". This is the general link for all of Royal Caribbean and not specific for Quantum. Under "Complimentary Dining":

Fine Dining Included In Your Cruise Fare

 

"Once onboard, you will enjoy dining options that are rich in flavor and ambience. Savor dish after dish of fine cuisine, casual plates and snacks prepared by our chefs in a variety of venues from deck to deck. See which dining venues are on your ship."

 

 

They list Silk, American Icon Grill, Chic, The Grande Restaurant, Coastal Kitchen* (*Exclusively for suite guests); with links to menus for these new venues under "Learn More"; along with Main Dining Room, My Time Dining, Windjammer Marketplace, Brasserie 30, Sorrento's Pizza, Park Cafe, Solarium Bistro, Jade Sushi, Boardwalk Dog House, Boardwalk Donuts, Vitality Cafe, Room Service, Cafe Promenade, Cafe Latte-tudes.

 

 

Based on this, it may be safe to assume the menus will be the same on Oasis, Freedom, and Adventure; however, the American Icon Grill mentions the experience as "...and one of the more casual main dining options on Quantum of the SeasSM and Anthem of the SeasSM."

 

 

Since this menu has yet to be tested with current cruise passengers and debuts on Quantum, my guess is there may be tweaks in the menus like they did on Freedom when introducing changes to the current MDR menus a couple years ago. Once the tweaks are worked out, I would think the menus would be the same on all ships with those restaurants as it would be cost effective to buy in bulk.

Oct. 18th, 2017, 11:57pm est

Funny, that's exactly one week before my passport expires.;)

Lots of good comments! I am totally a Quest fanatic but am not familiar with the Studio B and Lounge designations!:eek::p:rolleyes: Ya learn something new every day!:D Lately, I only cruise out of Baltimore and that has been on Grandeur and Enchantment. The Quest is always held in the lounge on these ships. Twice it was run in Studio B format which I thought of as pie cuts. I though that it had probably been done for safety/liability reasons, cutting down on the number of teams allowed to participate. It's much more fun if you are allowed to form your own teams and was happy to see it back to lounge style on some later cruises. Will just have to wait and see how things go.

Hi DELTABLUE,

 

Studio B is also where they have the ice shows (and the ice is covered during events like The Quest), so think of it as a small 3 sided arena with a stage and theater seats. The lounge has chairs you can move, however, the dancefloor space in the lounge is small compared to the larger floor space in Studio B. Another difference is the Cruise Director and their entire Cruise Director's staff dress up in funky athletic outfits for Studio B (maybe because it resembles an indoor basketball court without hoops) and are a little more formal in the lounge (unless doing it "Studio B style").

 

Although my team won 1st place twice in Studio B and came in 2nd once in the lounge, I enjoy the lounge Quest better because everyone on your smaller team (up to 8) get a medal for winning whereas only the team captains in Studio B win a prize. I never volunteer to be a team captain and I never do the finale. (:o for those who do. ;))

 

Anyway, have a great cruise. Hopefully you'll have a better experience than mine.

Good to hear Mitch did a good job on the Navigator. Like with the way he did the Quest, I can image he would do a better job on a Voyager-class ship.

 

The OP is sailing on Grandeur (Vision-class), so IMHO he lacks the ability to adapt to the older ships.

 

On the night we left Nassau (or was it CocoCay), Mitch was warming up the audience in the theater before introducing the comedian who had just flown into Nassau and boarded the ship there. Mitch mentioned how many people were sailing from each country. We even had some people from The Bahamas sailing with us. Of course, he had to make a joke about "Why would you want to fly to Florida and sail back to The Bahamas when you're from The Bahamas?" (or something similar). That by itself would have been funny, and the Bahamians laughed, however, the comedian continued with jokes about how scary it was to fly into Nassau and other Bahamas jokes that left me with a bad taste. Maybe it was because there were people from The Bahamas in the audience. I have flown directly into Nassau and enjoyed the views. The only thing scary was flying by the eye of Hurricane Sandy on my way to Florida to switch planes to Nassau.:eek:

 

To the OP, if you don't expect much from the CD and they exceed your expectations, you'll have a better cruise.:)

 

To be nice to the Mitch Merucci fans, I ranked him a "9" (instead of bottom of my list like I originally planned). You can take to mean 9 out of 10 (with 10 being the best), but I'll rank the other 8 CDs I've sailed with 10 out of 10.:cool:

[quote name='fishtaco']If you wear a Crew neck sweater yes if you wear a V neck or cardigan No!

But if you wear a V neck or Cardigan you will need to have a collared shirt under the sweater! Think male school teachers of the past

If you want to be just a bit overdressed in your Sweater you need to wear a V neck with a collared shirt with a loud non color matching bow tie[/quote]
There's a fancy elegant restaurant when I was growing up in my area with a dress code where my family and I went for Thanksgiving each year. Jacket and tie were required, however, they provided you with a jacket to wear at dinner. The one exception was Thanksgiving, where I could wear a sweater and turkey was on the menu. There was one time I ate there outside of Thanksgiving and couldn't get away with wearing a sweater, or order turkey. I don't remember if they made me wear a jacket provided by them (I think they made my Dad wear one) as it was a weeknight and not that many diners.

Anyway, the current owners have made it more an upscale steak house and turned the lounge into a more casual restaurant. According to a website dress code finder . com, the dress code is described as "Smart Casual" or "Casual Elegant". It says it means to "Dress to impress", "Jeans Likely OK", and "Avoid tees, sneakers and informal wear"; although the later is acceptable in the lounge restaurant. It was nice to not have to dress up for dinner in the lounge.

If The Grande is a choice of Jacket OR Sweater, I would have a better chance of packing a sweater. :cool:

Sailed with him on Majesty. Rickey is a much, much, much, better CD, who I sailed with on Navigator and Majesty. There are two ways to do The Quest, Studio B and lounge. In Studio B, teams are formed by the section you are sitting in whereas in the lounge you pick your teams (6-8 member) and then sit together.

 

Rickey did that just as other CDs have. If you're in Studio B, you do it the Studio B way, like he did on Navigator. If you're in the lounge like Majesty, you do it the lounge way when it comes to teams.

 

Mitch, on the other hand, did the Quest Studio B style on a ship without Studio B in the lounge last October. It did not work. He gave team numbers to undefined sections of the lounge. He then had twice as many team captains than teams, so he doubled the teams, but didn't redefine the sections. I had no idea what my team number was. My team captain quit half way through and stormed out of the lounge because nobody on our team wanted to participate.

 

As long as you weren't planning on attending the Quest, you should have a good time. I've sailed with 9 different CDs on RCL and would rank Mitch as #9 on my list.

[quote name='CruiserFromMaine']Before guys start dragging their tuxes on board to go to Grande, you should read the description of "formal" on the website, at least for Quantum.

[URL]https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/cruiseplanner/category/1011/product/100000002801905201[/URL]

WHAT TO WEAR

Cocktail dresses, gowns or dressy pantsuits are appropriate for women.
A jacket is required for men, along with pants (with no holes, rips or tears) and a sports shirt (must have sleeves) or sweater.
Swimsuits, robes, bare feet, tank tops, baseball caps and pool wear are not allowed in the main restaurants or specialty restaurants at any time.

I don't even need a tie, just a jacket and nice shirt. (And pants!)[/quote]
Do I have to wear a jacket if I wear a sweater?

BTW, "MA" is Massachusetts. Maine is "ME".

Although Maine was once part of Massachusetts until the Missouri Compromise.;)

[quote name='RocketMan275']If RCI does, in fact, implement this scheme, what would be RCI's strategy to convince cruisers not to go to the all inclusive land resorts or to switch to other cruise lines?

If this post is any indication, it would appear you have a rather low opinion of RCI. Why do you sail with a line that treats you this way?[/quote]
I have a low opinion of eliminating the MDR altogether with DD and being forced into MTD. The bombshell of Dynamic Dining was dropped after I had booked my last and upcoming cruises. I enjoy the "Gold Anchor Service" provided by the staff and crew onboard the ships and also enjoy CocoCay. I was considering sailing Freedom Eastern Caribbean next year to get back to CocoCay and finally go to St. Maarten. Now that they've cancelled most January cruises and sending her into an early dry dock to add DD and butcher the nightclub up to add another extra charge restaurant, I've decided not to book that cruise. I'm thinking about Enchantment of the Seas to get to CocoCay and/or another ship with maybe another cruise line to get to St. Maarten. My future with RCL is TBD.

As for my assessment; RCL is not an all-inclusive and is moving closer to an a la carte/meal plan type system that is in place at the land based Walt Disney World Resort. While they may have been competing with Sandals, Breezes, and Club Med type resorts in the 1980s and 1990s; today they are competing with Disney and Norwegian to get business not already going to Carnival. Just using the hindsight of history and foresight of what they plan to offer.

RCL has had a superior product in the past, so they're confident people will come back when they experience the competition. RCL is trying to tap into untapped markets and lately are taking their "bread and butter" repeat cruisers for granted with all the changes. The C&A people may leave and come back (which RCL is banking on), however, they may leave again for good when they realize what they had is gone at RCL (which I don't think RCL has taking into consideration).

Unfortunately. you are probably right, in that DD will be just like MTD, which I really disliked the one time we tried it.

 

We too, will not book with Royal again, until they shake this one out. Really, with so very many dining rooms on these new ships, why not have one traditional one, for all those who already hate MTD and don't want to completely walk away from Royal. Think about it, if DD is going to be as wonderful as it's cheerleaders say, then just one small to moderate sized dining room will do. And if it turns out that far to many people want to book the traditional room, well then that just means DD is a loser after all.

I agree. While the DD cheerleaders probably already do MTD (and I can see how this works for THEM), they fail to see how the elimination of the traditional MDR and all it has to offer will negatively affect the rest of US who may enjoy that experience.

Royal Caribbean is too busy trying to copy Disney and Norwegian that they've lost sight of the land based all-inclusive resorts at the islands they may visit. They've been moving from AI to a la carte for some time now. All-inclusive means all meals, all drinks, all entertainment are included in the price. Royal Caribbean only includes some beverages like water & lemonade, and advertises that most meals are covered in the cruise fare.

 

Not sure about alcohol, but I've heard soda was included in the price as far back as 2000. Johnny Rockets was "complimentary" back when it debuted. 24 hour Room Service was included when I first sailed them in 2008. The MDR also had quality food.

 

Today, Coke is sold by the can or buy a package for fountain soda. Alcohol is sold by the drink, and drink packages are now available. The quality of steaks went down when they introduced options to purchase steaks from Chops Grille while dining in the MDR, even on ships without a Chops Grille! The service charge was added to Johnny Rockets supposedly because kids and teens were ordering meals and then leaving JR before the food arrived. Room Service now has a service charge from midnight to 6AM because people would fall asleep before they arrived with the food.

 

The Cupcake Cupboard was introduced with a $5 fee to control demand for the product and NOT to make an extra profit, according to a former Royal Caribbean VP. If they can find an excuse, they will use it to their advantage.

 

In another thread about the Classics menu (Always available menu currently in the MDR) http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2094196; the response received about if there would one with Dynamic Dining is The American Icon Grill and Chops Grille. Customer service is already trying to get people who don't like the menus in the foodie-type "complementary" restaurants to pay extra for simple food in Chops. Already proving the point that Dynamic Dining is just a ploy to get more people to eat in specialty restaurants.

 

Don't be surprised if you see a more detailed invoice when booking a cruise in the future, with the cruise fare showing the amount for the stateroom and another price for the "complementary" food.

 

On ships with Dynamic Dining, people's choices are limited to their tastes. Coastal Kitchen is for suites only. Chic and Silk appeal to a limited audience. While The Grande's dress code enforcement may get toned downed, many newbies (or casual cruisers) may avoid this restaurant if they THINK is will be strictly enforced. That leaves them with the American Icon Grill. If the American Icon Grill (or any of the other "complementary" restaurants) gets to be too popular and the extra charge restaurants don't see a significant increase in diners, then you might see a charge for that restaurant (American Icon Grill) to "control demand" and "not to make an extra profit". Maybe your first reservation at that restaurant will be $0 when booking, but eat their again and pay $10 a visit ($20 at first, but then lowered to $10 when people complain). Many people might not notice the one in front of the zero and think it's still "complementary", until they get the bill at the end of the cruise.

 

Next will be a surcharge to book in advance. Then, to compete with the land based Disney Dining Plan, Royal Caribbean will offer the Royal Dining Plan. Instead of a "Kids Sail Free" promotion (currently 3rd and 4th person "free"), the promotion will be Kids Eat Free when you purchase the Royal Dining Plan six months in advance. Couples, we'll offer you Buy One Royal Dining Plan and get 50% the second one. Singles, what do you mean you're not sailing with anyone else? We don't want your business (we want your business, but we want you to bring somebody with you). That's why we are running the BOGOHO promotion and only charging couples 150% while we gouge you for 200%. Now we'll give you double C&A points, but you are going to dine alone. We assumed you wanted solitude. Also, no discount for you on the already "valued" Royal Dining Plan we offer to everyone else not sailing solo because you could get somebody to sail with you and (not necessary) spend more money onboard.

I heard Johnny Rockets was "complimentary" when it was introduced. Since sailing with Royal Caribbean, there's been a service charge that has gone up twice. Still cheaper than on land, but an extra charge nonetheless.

 

A ship that did 11 hour crossings between Portland, ME and Yarmouth, NS included ship transportation only. A cabin cost extra. MDR extra. Food a la carte extra. So it wouldn't surprise me if these "complimentary" options become extra charge in the not too distant future.

 

Most airlines included checked luggage in the past. Now they charge an extra fee for 2 or more checked bags. Some charge for the 1st checked bag, and even carry-ons.:eek:

 

Currently when booking entertainment they have a $0 fee, but it is an option to charge you in the future. Wouldn't surprise me if the Windjammer is the only "complimentary" option, and the sit down waitstaff restaurants will be offered as an extra charge "package" when reserving the cruise. So instead of a cruise price being $1000 with meals included; the price could be $900, but the meals will cost an extra $350 for a total of $1250 for the same cruise (as a non-scientific example). If you want entertainment, add it to base fare.

 

They've already done it to the drink packages. Before they included gratuity in the price. Now they don't include gratuity, so the price looks lower. When you add the gratuity on top of the lower price you're paying more than when the gratuity was included.

I don't see how you all can even possibly come to this conclusion all over the concept of Dynamic Dining where they remove the MDR and put in several INCLUDED options in its place.

 

In fact, Im willing to put my money where my mouth is.

 

I fully expect to be here in 5 years, still cruising on Royal Caribbean.

 

I've got a crisp 100 dollar bill that says that by 9-9-2019, there will STILL be many different dining options (full service venues) on board that do NOT require an upcharge.

 

Any takers?

I'll bet $0 that your crisp $100 bill won't be still "crisp" on 9-9-2019.;)

We are adults only, no kids. Wondering about decorations/parties etc.

We are actually disembarking on Halloween morning.....so maybe they won't do anything special until that days' sailing?

A few years ago I was on Liberty and disembarked on Halloween morning. The night before was a costume contest, 80's dance party (Thriller), and The Quest all in Studio B. While Enchantment doesn't have Studio B, maybe they'll do something in the Centrum or other public space on the last night (Oct. 30).

Atlantis property (Aquaventure, the Dig, etc.) may be closed to the public that day for an event or rented out to a celebrity/rich person or a filming/television production.

 

...I checked out the menus in the new complimentary restaurants on Quantum. ...They have everything (except PB&J)! ...

 

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Forums mobile app

They have Peanut Butter & Jelly Trifle for Dessert in the American Icon Grill on Quantum. Peanut Butter Mousse, Fresh Berries and Grape Jelly.

http://www.royalcaribbean.com/quantumoftheseas/dining/restaurants/american-icon-grill/ ;)

On point, cant_w8_cruise!

 

 

 

The point is: Not one passenger onboard is going to leave the ship without having some sort of satisfying restaurant experience. If you are stuck on the MDR, maybe the newer ships aren't for you. I'm with the younger generation of cruisers, who don't want to sacrifice a restaurant style meal in favor of more time on the island (I missed dinner in the MDR while in Cozumel in favor of watching the sun set from the island, which was a first for me.).

 

RCL is trying to attract more families to its ships. How do you put a family with children on an MDR schedule? It isn't fair to ask parents to rush their children to a 5:30 or 6:00 seating. And even less fair to ask them to keep their kids up for an 8:30 seating. I have to say that this is where Disney World rocked! We chose a time when both adults and children would be ready, and simply went. If our time slot wasn't available, we either selected another night, or went with another time or restaurant. With 18 restaurants (each)onboard Quantum and Anthem, there are plenty to choose from.

Hi Jennifer,

 

From your signature, I see your last cruise was on Enchantment back in 1997. While I'm not too familiar with that ship, I am familiar with the Majesty of the Seas as you sailed her in 1993 & 1994. I'm also familiar with the Liberty of the Seas that you are sailing in February (2015).

 

I know in the mid-1990s you only had a choice of a first or second seating, which was for all 3 meals at the same table in the same dining room. Today, breakfast and lunch in the MDR are seated as you arrive, and most people eat in the Windjammer or do room service for breakfast. Only Traditional options for dinner, however, they added a My Time Dining (MTD) option where you make reservations for different times each night at a different table and possibly different waitstaff. MTD was introduced a few years back that has been expanded fleet wide over the past couple of years.

 

The Liberty of the Seas will not have Dynamic Dining when you sail. While the Majesty has two separate dining rooms, Liberty has one grand 3-story dining room (although they refer to each deck level as a different dining room) with a staircase between floors in a nice open space like in the movie Titanic. One level of the dining room will be for My Time Dining reservations. The other two are for traditional dining with a first and second seating with the same table assignments and waitstaff for the duration of the cruise. All 3 dining rooms will have the same menu that changes each night based on a theme (Pomodoro, Jasmine, etc.). There are no longer separate courses for soup, salad, & appetizers as they are all group together as starters. Feel free to order a salad and soup and shrimp cocktail if you like. You may also order two entrees or get seconds on the same one if you like.

 

From your post, "Not one passenger onboard is going to leave the ship without having some sort of satisfying restaurant experience." is not true. There is no guarantee everyone will be satisfied.

What people are upset about is no longer having the choice of traditional dining and being forced into My Time Dining. On top of that, My Time Dining becomes Dynamic Dining where you don't even get the choice of having a different menu each night in one dining room, you have to go to 4 different dining rooms with the same menu each night for a total of 4 different menus (instead of 7 for a 7 night cruise). You would then have to pay extra the other nights to get a different menu in a restaurant with waitstaff. These complimentary restaurants will be separate one story ones like the dining rooms on Majesty and not a grand open one like Liberty. (There's a 5th one for suite guests only).

 

While Royal Caribbean is promoting 18 restaurants on Quantum; many of those may be good for breakfast, lunch, or late night snack, but would not be a satisfying meal for dinner.

 

Anyway, hope you enjoy your Liberty of the Seas cruise, without the Dynamic Dining (yet).

A miserable experiment that will try to entice more people to go to Specialty Restaurants. :(:(:(

I agree. What Dynamic Dining does is that they take the Norwegian Freestyle model and then totally eliminate the Main Dining Room. Depending on the ship, there will be several "complimentary" restaurants in addition to the extra charge restaurants. While Quantum will have 4 with a 5th space for suite guests, Freedom is looking like it will have only 3 "complimentary" restaurants. Not sure how many Oasis will get.

 

In addition to not having the same table and same waitstaff with the same guests for the duration of cruise, there will no longer be rotating menus. It's the same menu each night for each restaurant.

 

Also, no more formal nights. While you can choose your own "formal" night by eating in The Grande, this probably means no more free champagne at the Captain's Formal reception on night 2 (or 1st Formal Night) that was held in between (or after) traditional 1st and 2nd seatings.

 

For large groups, they will no longer be guaranteed to sit together in the same part of the dining room (restaurant) if they have more than 16 (or even 12) people in their group.

 

For singles who enjoy sitting with other cruisers (same ones each night) instead of dining alone, they will have to request each night to sit with somebody else if possible or dine alone at a table.

 

This "Dynamic Dining" experiment is to force people into eating at extra charge specialty restaurants who otherwise wouldn't have in the past due to the comfort and enjoyment of a Traditional Main Dining Room environment. If you want variety in menus with waitstaff, you would have to eat at 3 extra charge restaurants and 4 complimentary ones on a 7 night cruise to get a different menu each night like the MDR currently offers.

Voted for "Dislike new menu- not worth the value" for no apps I would like and the price is high compared with Outback or Longhorn.

 

After voting, I realized Chops may be more of an upscale experience, so I checked the menu of a local upscale steakhouse and some of the prices are comparable. 10 oz. Filet Mignon $32.95 + tax before any apps compared to the $35 extra charge for Chops.

 

For me, the extra cost isn't worth it when I already have (or had for future reference) a meal paid for in the MDR. From Royal's perspective, the already paid for meal becomes fish food if you don't eat it when you eat at an upcharge restaurant like Chops, so they don't deduct the wasted complimentary meal from the extra charge.

 

The BOGO does nothing for me when I sail solo. Unless I travel with some one in the future and have a special occasion to celebrate, there would have to be some other discount to get me to eat at Chops.

That describes the interior solo cabins, however, there are still a few solo balconies available, which aren't connected to other cabins. Plus the interior solo cabins will be sold as standalone cabins at some point before the cruise date (I don't know how far in advance they will be released), if they aren't needed by groups as you describe.

 

I also found the information you provided interesting, since the table assignments will be based on the party size when booked, it may be difficult to add anyone to an existing reservation once on the ship. For example if a party of 4 has booked one of the restaurants prior to boarding and then meets up with another party of 4 that they wish to eat with, that may not be possible using their existing reservation as the restaurant may not have an open table for 8 at the same time. (Hopefully that made sense :D). It will be interesting to hear how it really is when people report back on their experiences on the Quantum.

When Studio Balconies for solos were announced for Quantum, I was looking forward to it as I had put that idea on a comment card or survey in the past. At the same time, I was surprised by the low number of balcony/interior studio rooms, and confused by the configuration/setup of the interior studio rooms.

 

If Royal Caribbean were trying to compete with Norwegian in the solo studios department, they would have clustered these rooms together and created a studio lounge or some area set aside for solos, which they did not.

 

Guess it makes sense if you take a look at the solos/singles events hosted by Royal Caribbean and Norwegian. As you mentioned, Norwegian has a program for solos in the studios. I sailed on a Norwegian ship without the studios, they provided a host for the singles event and I could have had people to dine with afterward had I not just eaten a "snack" before the event. Royal Caribbean, on the other hand, always lists their solo events as "unhosted" and just list an inconvenient time and/or location to meet in the Cruise Compass.

 

As you mentioned in post 250 earlier in this thread about the way Adam Goldstein reacted when asked about solos sailing solo, it shows they didn't take that into consideration (or didn't prepare that topic to come up). I don't remember where the post came from about the studio balconies were developed for a third person in a party, but the idea was that instead of a pullman in a regular balcony stateroom for a 3rd person (where balcony space my only be big enough for two, the 3rd person would have their own smaller room with a balcony.

 

While trying to join a couple at a table for two reservation may be difficult to make it a table for 3, it may be possible to join a party of 4 as they could just add another chair to the table for 4 (depending on the size of the table).

 

On a past cruise, I was assigned to a table with a family of 4 adults. I was the first to arrive, and there were only 4 chairs at the table. When I saw 4 people arriving together at the table, it was an awkward moment at first, but the dining room staff brought another chair over to the table. A slightly tighter fit, but it worked. We had a great time. Outside of dinner, we sat together at a Crown & Anchor event. On the last day, I sat with them for breakfast in the Windjammer and we stayed through lunch. If it was MTD only for that cruise, I would have missed out on the opportunity to have met these great people. It will be hard if not impossible to get this experience again with Dynamic Dining.

It's good that you were able to use the Diamond drink vouchers. I did a 2 night cruise to CocoCay before a drydock 5 years ago and the C&A program was suspended for the short cruise, however, that we would (and did) receive a C&A cruise credit.

 

Looking forward to sailing Oasis when she comes back from drydock.