Tetromibi

My wife and I will be on the ship with you. We got to NYC on Wednesday, and we can't wait to get on the boat.

There is usually at least one night where we skip the main dining room for one reason or another. The "problem" with that that the buffet desserts aren't quite the greatest things on earth...especially compared to the warm chocolate melting cake or bitter & blanc from the dining room.

 

Can you go to one of the dining rooms at dinner time and simply get a dessert to go? Or if we have YTD, will they let us just order from a dessert menu without having to spend a significant amount of time in the dining room?

We always get a table for 2 so we are done quickly. On our last cruise on the Breeze our waiter, who was super knowledgeable about what we could or could not have, took the orders.

On Princess we were always done well before the Head Waiter came to take our order so the waiters would bring us the menus and go find they guy so we did not have to wait.

 

Just say something to your waiter and they will find the person, don't sit there and stew about it.

 

We did each night. Our waitress just told us the person was busy and would get there as soon as they could. *shrug*

Just be aware that if you tell them up front about the allergy, and each night at dinner someone will come by with the menu for the following day.

 

The practice sounds fine in theory, but it can also be a bit of a nuisance.

 

It worked great on the Fantasy when we had a large group that took a long time to eat.

 

However, on the Glory, it was just my wife and I cruising. The first three nights we ate our entire meal plus dessert, and then we ended up waiting an extra 20-30 minutes for the person to finally come around with the menu to take my next day's order.

 

We ended up just going to the Lido buffet for the remainder of the cruise rather than being forced to sit at the table for an additional half hour each night after finishing eating.

It sounds like a lot of money, but it's not always that bad. I got to 1500 points the first night on a cruise (had an awesome machine). I only spent $200 that night. The rest of the points came from recycling winnings.

You can have separate accounts set up. When you do your online check-in, it will give you options about who you want to be on your sign and sail account. They will be able to set up a separate one for themselves.

I'm also allergic to nuts. I've been on several cruises with no problems.

 

The advice about notifying the maitre d upon arrival is valuable. For my first couple of cruises, I simply told the waiter...who did nothing. Several desserts came out with nuts on the plate (pies especially.) And instead of arguing I just skipped dessert those nights and grabbed an ice cream cone from lido deck. In retrospect, I should have made a bigger deal about it.

 

Anyway, now I know about notifying the maitre d. On my last cruise, a lady came by the table each night with the following day's menu and took my order to be prepared separately. It's awesome, and usually everybody at the table wants to know what's for dinner the following night. So you can also pass the menu around so they can have a sneak peak.

 

Hopefully the kid's reaction scared them enough that they know to be aware of what they are eating. If not, you should sit them down and have a serious chat about what they should be avoiding.

 

If there is ever any doubt, just don't eat it. It's not worth chancing it for a cookie or a piece of pie.

Direct + CF subscription. Easiest method & least harassment.

Just a heads up...

 

My wife got a casino offer in the mail. I called the main Carnival number to price match the offer since it was ~$80 lower per person, and the agent told me they couldn't see the price and there was nothing she could do....even though I told her it was a casino offer and I had the discount code (PTC or some variant) and that i could see it on my screen on a mock booking.

 

I then tried calling the phone number listed on the casino offer from the mail, and the agent at this number was able to price match the casino rate for us.

Fantasy does not have guy's burgers...

 

They do have a grill. The honey-mustard is amazing at the grill. Almost enough to make up for not having a guy's.

We are not happy about how this played out. All the marketing and talk about being based in Bayonne. I've been checking daily for Quantum for several weeks for our May 2015 cruise.

We will now be cruising with Carnival for that vacation. We might check back in 2016 to see if a Spring/Summer Quantum class cruise is available stateside.

(I get the business decision, but it's still a huge disappointment.)

We were thinkinga bout booking a room where we can wake up and be able to see this cruise ships from the balcony. Does anybody have any experience with hotels where this is possible?

Just curious, why the need to call in to place the reservation vs just booking online?

Do they still give you the receipts to sign with the new drink packages?

As far as mixed and/or frozen drinks are concerned, is there any difference between the ultimate and premium drink package?

 

The description from the RCI site seems kind of vague.

 

Ultimate - Includes: Call and premium cocktails, frozen drinks, beers, premium wines by the glass (up to $12 value), premium coffee, premium tea, bottled water (sparkling and still, fresh squeezed orange juice, non-alcoholic cocktails, fountain sodas with the Coca Cola® souvenir cup.

 

Premium - Includes: Call and premium cocktails (up to $10 value), frozen drinks, beers, wines by the glass (up to $12 value), non-alcoholic cocktails, bottle water (still), and fountain sodas with Coca-Cola® souvenir cup.

 

Is the only difference the $10 limit on cocktails being lifted from ultimate? Or is that a typo/oversight from RCI?

Search for your cruise on their website. Once you get to the page that shows the different cabin types (also has a link near the top that you can click to view itinerary), bookmark the page at this point. Repeat for other cruises.

We booked our cruise earlier this week, and we were able to get the $150 OBC (for a balcony) applied to our reservation.

 

T&C states...

 

Onboard Credit ("OBC") Offer applies to cruises booked Jan. 1 - Feb. 28, 2014. OBC offer is valid on 6-night or longer Royal Caribbean International sailings departing Mar. 1 - Dec. 31, 2014, excluding Quantum of the Seas.

Thanks, I just called and had this applied for our Christmas cruise.

You can just bookmark the pricedrop tool page once you make your selections (e.g. RCI, 5 day, inside room). Then you can just hit the bookmark once a day to check for drops.

 

Also, keep in mind the tool is in beta. It may be just as efficient to bookmark RCI's website for your cruise to check those prices daily.

Thanks everyone, we ended up with an aft balcony on the Jewel. It should be an amazing Christmas!

Wife and I are looking at cruises for Christmas. We've primarily been with Carnival, but we are giving Royal Caribbean another chance. We have things narrowed down to the following three cruises...

 

 

Jewel - 7 night, Tortola, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, Martinique, Barbados

 

Adventure - 7 night, St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Aruba, Curacao

 

Grandeur - 8 night, Port Canaveral, CocoCay, Nassau, Key West

 

 

I have only been on the Majesty, Monarch, and Sovereign so far with RCI.

 

I've been to all the ports on the Grandeur cruise, and I've never been to any of the ports on the other cruises.

 

Assuming price isn't a deciding factor, which ship/itinerary would you choose?

1130 is fine. We have had those flights multiple times out of Miami.

 

If you are worried, the fastest way to get to the airport is to do self-debark and to take a cab.

I called yesterday and talked to Michael. Close to 5k points on last cruise, qualified for $75 on upcoming cruise. He said to call back after this one to see what I qualify for on my October cruise.

I got the mailer Friday with $300 and 25% discount on select cruises. The only time I've gambled was my last cruise, and I think I was just over 5000 points for the cruise.