Giantfan13

As everyone else has said, they don't care who the drinks are for. Just give them a card and as long as there are vouchers available, they just mark them off. There were days I have used all 8 of the vouchers, and other days my DW has used them all. As a couple, you are allowed 8 per day regardless of who drinks the drinks.

Cheers

Len

You CAN buy insurance no matter what time you cruise. That said, almost all policies have what they call 'Look Back' time, where if you know something is the matter during that time frame you cannot submit a claim for that reason. So, overall, insurance would do you no good for t he reason you are looking to buy insurance for. As some one said, the companies would go broke if they allowed this.

Cheers

Len

On 5/25/2023 at 8:57 AM, craig01020 said:

Just booked on Grandeur. My Time Dining was unavailable, so I chose the 8 pm fixed time, although I'm on the waitlist for MTD. I've never done fixed time dining before. I've requested a table for 2, and was told that is not guaranteed. In your experience, have you had to share a larger table?

 

Also, how does the MTD wait list work? Will Royal contact me if an opening comes up or will I need to follow up?

 

Thanks all!

Craig

We always do MTD and have been waitlisted a couple of times. In those instances, we head right to the maitre'd when we board the ship and he has always taken care of whatever preferences we wanted. We have never been 'shut out' of whatever dining we wanted. 

Most of the tables these days are set up for dining for 2. They may be right on top of other tables for 2, but they are set for 2. You should have no problem with that. We love sharing tables as we love to meet many new people, but when they ask if anyone wants to share, they are few and far between these days, so they can never 'make' you share a table if you don't want to. You may have to wait a few minutes for a table to open up, but they will always honor your request.

Cheers

Len

Thanks, guys, and a hit to you John, we haven't spoken in quite a while. Hope all is well and you are still cruising.

Cheers

Len

We are sailing into Istanbul on the MSC Peosia on Oct 22, 2023. I have been told that she docks at one particular location and again at a different location. I am looking to book a private tour with a pick-up at the terminal. Is there one main terminal or how can I see where the ship does dock?

Cheers

Len

We also used to always change for dinner from what we wore during the day. Not so much anymore. I will change if I am wearing shorts and a T-shirt, but all those dressier pants are now left at home and some good clean jeans are the way to go. Seems almost every else has this same idea.
 

Cheers

Len

5 minutes ago, wpas1 said:

After reading this I am not sure if MTD is what I thought it was.  In the past we just went to the dining room and were seated.  Sometimes we had a 10-15 minute wait, but never anything longer.  We never made reservations, do we need to do that now?   

No you do not have to make a reservation. You still CAN just show up whenever you want and you will be seated as soon as something is available. Many of us, who use MTD and make a reservation, do so most times, so we can be seated in the same area each night with the same wait staff. If you go when you like, again, you will be seated but it will be where ever they have a table open so you may not see the same wait staff twice on your cruise. If that is no big deal then go when you like and enjoy your dinner.

Cheers

Len

2 hours ago, MtnSeaGirl said:

I am late to this topic and have a question about MTD.  We only cruised Royal once, and we had traditional dining.  We recently cruised Carnival whose MTD involves having the app on your phone. You go to the app and request a table.  They then message you when your table is ready.  Usually the wait was short, and we did not have to dine at a set time each evening.  We recently booked a great 12 day on Royal and signed up for MTD.   Please confirm that my understanding is correct that at some point, we will be able to select a specific time for MTD ( reservation ). If this is correct, do we make it for every night or does the one selection secure our reservation for each evening of the cruise?  If we need to reserve a time for each evening, is it permissible for it to be different times?  Lastly, at what point do we make the reservations?  I  apologize for so many "dumb" questions.  I just want to get it right.  We don't sail until April, and I want to do what I need to do when I need to do it.  We booked online without the use of a TA or PVP like we did 5 yrs ago.  Maybe we should have utilized one. In the meantime, I appreciate your help.   

In the app or online, you need to make a reservation for each night of your cruise. You can do whatever time you want for each night. Say you will be ashore and want a later dining time that night, just put in whatever time you feel appropriate. You do have to do each night individually, but once you get the hang of it, it is a piece of cake. AND, say you make a reservation for 7:30 and you know the day or night before, you may want to eat earlier of later, just tell the reservation desk that you wish to change your reservation time, or just cancel it and show up when you want with no reservation. It is not that big a deal.

Cheers

Len

We saw him on the Anthem on an 11-day cruise and we stopped in to see him almost every night. 

Bullied, now why would anyone even think that? He may not be everyone's cup of tea but are we all so thin-skinned these days that we can't laugh at ourselves sometimes? And, he certainly has a following as the Schooner Bar is filled every night he performs. Name me one other entertainer on any ship that can say that.

Ourselves, we found him hilarious.

Cheers

Len

If you have any problems with your dining time, go see the Maitre'D when you first board. THere are usually many people there either looking to change what they already have or do something different. Most times, you will be accommodated.

Cheers

Len

21 hours ago, gc said:

The Enchantment of the Seas out of Bayonne??  That would be a nightmare!!! 

She came up without passengers from Baltimore and we did a 15-day TA to Rome. On the return, she will be in Florida.

Cheers

Len

WE ahve done Alaska 3 separate times and are looking at it again.  For us, who do not do beaches, there is no comparison, I'll take Alaska every time.

Depending on when you are planning on going, the summers are milder than in the States, but not cold. The only times you MIGHT need some warmer clothes is when the ship sails to the glaciers, and depending on what you plan to do in port, like walking on a glacier, you will need some warmer clothes.

As some have suggested, go to the Ports of Call section of Cruise Critic and find Alaska. Everything and anything you would ever want to know or need to know is there. PLUS, download the Tom's Port Guide (google it and you will thank me 100 times for suggesting it). Just invaluable.

Cheers

Len

Same here. We did a B2B and were able to have lunch in the MDR. We order a meal, took over 1/2 an hour just to get a bowl of soup and it was the wrong one. We got up and left. Service  was horrible.

Cheers

Len

So let me add, that we also sailed out on Cape Liberty several times, the last being a few weeks ago on the Enchantment. We had the earliest possible check-in time, but it really meant nothing. Whoever was there was checked in. I even asked if they are enforcing the check-in times, They grinned and waved us thru. I can see if there was a real mob there and everyone wanted to check in ASAP, but that just wasn't happening when we were there.

Cheers

Len

Any alcohol you buy off the ship, while in any port, will be collected as you reenter the ship. It will be ticketed and then, on the last night of your cruise, it will be delivered to your stateroom.

I was always under the belief, that if you bought local liquor, you could buy and take as much as you wanted, but while in St Marteen in January, I was told that isn't so anymore. PLUS, don't know where you are sailing, but St. Marteen is without a doubt, the best place to buy liquor. If you can stuff it in your suitcase the last night, you can take a lot more than what they really allow.

Cheers

Len

We are just off a TA on the Enchantment and here is how we enjoyed dinner with MTD. First, we requested to be seated in the same section every night and we were. Maybe not at the same table, but we always had the same waiter. The thing we did notice was that in the past if you asked the waiter for something, he usually replied he will see what he can do, and most times he did it. Now we asked for something different and they said that they will have to check with the head guys first. We usually got what we wanted, but it had to go thru the system and up the chain of command.

As for Apps, I always order some form of soup so why would I want another App sitting along with it? Our waiter was great and as soon as I finished one App, the other was right there for us.

As for desserts, we ALWAYS order 2 and we ALWAYS got them together. PLUS, I have always been a fan of RCCL Cheesecake which was always available every day, but not now. I spoke to our maitre'd and sort of asked if I can still get it most nights, and viola, it usually appeared along with whatever other desserts we ordered. 

I would assume each ship makes its own little nuances on the rules.

Cheers

Len

Thank you all who have replied and with great appreciation, I say thanks to all who thank veterans for their service.

I need to clear up a matter as I think some have taken it the wrong way. To the gentleman who said I was 'whining' because I didn't get a free pix, that is so far from what I said, maybe you should reread what I wrote. I couldn't care less about the pix or any freebies that RCCL or anyone else offers. If they offer something that I am entitled to, and I want to take advantage of, so be it. But what I said, several times is that I think it is just wrong for RCCL, or whoever is taking these pics, to try and make money off veterans by taking a group photo of a veterans event and then trying to sell it to those veterans who participated. They invite you to be honored and then sell you a pic of it. I find that in very bad taste.

Cheers

Len

4 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Each ship does it a bit different.

Last year the CD called out each branch of military for applause and then included other countries as well.

They did the same thing here and I believe they do it on most cruises. It is moving and most vets, including myself, attend and are glad they did.

 My point was that they take a group photo and then want the vets to buy it. I don't care who is making money off of this, it is on a RCCL ship and they are using the vets to make a few extra dollars. I can't believe anyone other than the vets would buy the pix, so why not just offer it to them to thank them for their service?

Cheers

Len

We just got off a TA on the Enchantment, where RCCL did its usual Veterans ceremony with the usual cake to honor all Veterans. Myself, I am a USAF Viet Nam veteran. It is very nice that people are recognizing the Vets who gave up so many years of their lives to help serve our great country. I never really expect anything for being a Veteran and don't ask for anything. I did what I had to do. It might be nice if companies like RCCL did something more than a piece of cake while proclaiming to 'love' our veterans, but that isn't why I am writing because I feel that RCCL has now sunk to a new low in this matter. At the Veteran honoring ceremony, they had all the vets stand there for a pix and then they try and sell them that pix. Myself, I feel this is an outrage trying to make a few more bucks off Veterans. It might have been nice to offer a copy of these pix to all the Veterans, but no, they need to sell it to them. 

I may be coming off as a whiner, but I am not, I just hate it when people or companies proclaim that they love our Veterans yet do nothing to show it and instead try and make more money off of them.

I'm down off my soap box.

Cheers

Len

We always do MTD and we also always ask to be seated with the same wait staff every night. I don't care where we sit as long as we have the same waiter every night. With a polite request, it usually can be done. Of course, if you do this and you do not like the waiter for some reason, politely ask to be seated in a different section. It is YOUR choice.

Cheers

Len

In NYS we can get a driver's license with Veteran imprinted on it. We have used this many times to get discounts for Veterans instead of carrying my DD214 around.

Cheers
Len

On 4/26/2023 at 1:17 PM, poocher said:

Have had a military discount ranging from $200-$600 on our last 4 cruises.  Alas nothing for our next and I check weekly as it seems to come & go at odd times.  We have never been asked for any type of proof of eligibility ever.  I do carry my DH’s DD215 and his military record info but never needed it.

I kind of doubt what you are saying here. First of all the discharge is a DD214, not 215, and most cruise lines that offer any sort of military discount are dew and very far between. They all talk a good game but fail to deliver. 

In the past several cruise lines always had some sort of discount but RCCL hasn't offered any sort of military discount from before Covid. I'd like to know what your 4 discounts were. AND please get the form correctly as any honorable discharge vet knows what their DD214 is.

Cheers

Len

I am not doubting anything said in this thread, but we have 4 TA's booked this year and next, and the prices have come down on two and remained the same on the other 2.

Cheers

Len

We have cruised out of Bayonne several times and we make sure we have the earliest boarding times possible. As of now, they have never checked what time we had. 

I guess it is supposed to try and avoid huge crowds at certain times and maybe other ports are different, but from NJ, they haven't enforced boarding times as of now.

Cheers

Len

We were told a long time ago, you cannot have enough medical evacuation coverage. All the general policies from the cruise lines and credit card companies offer trip coverage, but rarely anything about evacuation.

We also use Insuremytrip but opt for at least $350,000 in medical evacuation coverage. Don't know if I will ever need it but for a few extra dollars, for us, it is well worth it.

Cheers

Len