MaritimeR&R

I totally agree with what you just said.

 

Yes, a person can meet people all over the ship.

 

We are outgoing people. Here is a true story:

 

While on a recent cruise we hit one of the numbers where you receive a crystal block. We already had one for that ship and decided that we would find some who might like to have it. We talked it over and decided to find either a first time cruiser or a couple on their honeymoon.

 

Later in the cruise, we were invited to the captain's table in the dining room. When we gathered for pre dinner drinks we were talking with a young couple and found out that they were on their honeymoon AND were first time cruisers.

 

I immediately went back to the cabin, got the block, and gave it to them. They liked it very much.

 

Now get this... After the cruise while in the 7/11 a young man came up and asked if we cruise a lot...he was the husband in the honeymoon couple. Wow, small world.:D

Like you, I gave my duplicate block to a couple who were on their honeymoon, 15 years late. Apparently, they could never afford a honeymoon and their parents had given them the cruise as an anniversary present. They said it was going on their mantle at home and couldn't thank me enough as they were on a tight budget and couldn't purchase anything extra. It felt good to make someone that happy.

I wouldn't worry about arriving early. I was on the 11/22 Quantum inaugural with an 11:15 boarding time in the section reserved for Suite, Diamond Plus, and Diamond level guests. I was surrounded by people who had boarding times on their sea passes that went from 12:30 to 2:15 and they boarded the same time I did.

I have an 11:15 boarding time again, but due to the time constraints on the person giving me a lift to the port, I will be arriving at around 10:30 -- the same time I always arrived when Explorer was still sailing out of Bayonne -- See you there!

No RCI ship has a dining room which can accomodate all passengers ;)! There are two seatings so the dining rooms usually don´t hold much more than half of the passengers.

 

Usually not all of the passengers do eat in the main dining room but use the Windjammer or one of the specialty restaurants. So actually you don´t need more capacity in the MDR than half of the passengers. With Dynamic Dining they planned to have 3 parties on a table throughout one night.

 

Anyway, did you connect your booking numbers? That would have made it easier as then you could have easily booked for all people in your party. And even when online booking doesn´t show any capacity anymore that doesn´t mean you won´t be able to eat. Online booking usually does not fill up all available space but they do have a certain percentage of seats which will be available onboard only. So relax and get everything sorted out onboard. You won´t starve!

 

 

 

 

 

steamboats

Our bookings were linked, but mine disappeared off of the reservations and somehow bookings for different restaurants, different times, and different nights was added to my cruise planner. The date shown on those reservations was 5/14/2014 at 00:00. They were not changed by me and the changes only appeared last week despite the date shown on the planner. Now, RCI can not get me linked again due to no availability for two people in all the complementary restaurants at any time during the cruise. Consequently, both of us have reservations for one person at different venues, times, and dates.

Insofar as starving -- I am a frequent RCI cruiser and due to having a father that worked for the cruise line industry I have sailed aboard numerous line over the course of more than 60 years, so I am well aware I will not starve; I am also aware that things can be sorted out onboard, but would rather not subject myself or use the time I could be relaxing and enjoying my cruise to deal with an issue that was clearly an IT glitch.

With regards to capacity seating--this is not an airline, where if overbooked, you are bumped, comped, etc. Once onboard you are left to what is available - and as a paying consumer, I expect to receive the service I paid for and not have to resort to a DIY remedy for a problem that though recognized by the business has yet to be remedied by them.

To date, between myself and my friend, we have spent a total of 9 hrs. on the phone with RCI trying to get this fixed.

They have already made Devinely Decadence complimentary on both Quantum and Anthem.

 

Do you think there will be more added?

Though I didn't mention Devinely Decadence, that was also one of the complementary restaurants with no availability. The supervisor noted that all the current complementary restaurants (including DD) had no availability that he could book online and then added that RCI was considering adding more, so one can assume from that there may be more added.

I along with a girl friend who is booked in a separate cabin had our dynamic dining reservations disappear for the upcoming March 1st cruise. I wasn't too concerned as I was on the 9ni. inaugural back in November and knew from experience that usually these glitches can be worked out.

As of now, each of us has a reservation for one person at three of the complimentary restaurants. Only my friend has a reservation for all four of them and her reservation is just for her. We were told that the system is not showing any availability for two people. In fact, in most cases, i.e. The Grande, American Icon, and Chic it is showing no availability -- so we can choose to each all 12 ni. in the Windjammer, try to get reservations in the specialty restaurants, or we can each eat alone at separate times in different restaurants. I told them that was unacceptable and they are going to "work on" seeing if they can accommodate us together and will give me an update on Monday.

The supervisor at C&A stated that because the inability to accommodate everyone in the complementary restaurants has been an ongoing problem, and that Royal Caribbean is considering making one or two of the specialty restaurants complementary. Of course, that doesn't help my or others current situation.

Whoever ran the numbers for the restaurants didn't look at the bigger picture.

The number of seats in the complementary restaurants should equal the total number of passengers that the ship can carry. EVERYONE on board should be able to eat in the complementary restaurants EVERY NIGHT if they choose to and not be forced into eating in the Windjammer or at a specialty restaurant where there is an additional charge because there is no room. It is after all, what is included in their fare. -- If people are going to be forced to eat at the Windjammer every night because there is no room in the complementary restaurants, then they should be a price for that type of booking. I should not pay for one thing and be given another.

I know that if C&A can't accommodate my party of two for the march 1st sailing in the restaurants that I had originally booked...I am going to ask them to comp. the specialty restaurants for those evenings. I booked this cruise back in May of 2013 and this is ridiculous.

I am also seriously considering cancelling my other Anthem cruises and getting onboard another ship that does not have dynamic dining.

I'm one of those people who have been in the program for years and NEVER receive emails. I've put the club into my address book and I check spam. It just never gets sent and they have the correct email. Annoying. So I have to subscribe to this thread to see if there are any new emails.

 

Can anyone make a guess as to when the last emailing went out? Was it when this thread started?

Couldn't tell you when the last email went out ---I also never get emails from them or from Crown and Anchor...only RC marketing. Not in my spam, allowed in my mailbox....like you I never get them, but I cruise fairly often, talk with the Casino Hosts and Managers, along with calling Club Royale whenever I need to clarify something.

The ones I spoke to yesterday said that the evaluation will be made on the entire year of 2014 only.

Seems that they are not even sure since they keep giving out different information.

Because of all the conflicting information I had heard/read from here, Casino Hosts, etc. I asked to speak with the Supervisor.

Apparently because of the many complaints regarding people not receiving the email about the new program coming and the inability of people to cruise in time to utilize their rebates before a 3/15/15 cutoff, the April 2014 to March 2015 evaluation period came into being -- I would not be surprised if things change yet again, since so much of the program has yet to be revealed.

Example - the new program was to begin on March 16, 2015 -- now they are hoping for April or May.

Please note - The person I spoke to said that he did not know if downgrading based on lesser play would occur. However, it does seems logical that since you can be upgraded the reverse will likely be true. I tend to think they will not downgrade anyone during the program's first year of existence, but that afterwards it will be fair game.

Spoke with the powers that be at Club Royale last evening regarding an update to the new program. The following is what I was told.

• 
  Casino cash rebates will continue to be earned during the initial period of the new program; all cash rebates must be used by March 15, 2016--no exceptions.
   
  Current members will be assigned to tiers that each have specific perks so that there will be uniformity across the line -- apparently, there have been complaints regarding some Hosts short-changing comps for some members while going over board (pardon the pun) for others
   
  The initial assignment to a tier will be based on cumulative play from April 2014 to March 2015 (those sailing late in March may request to have their tier reevaluated)
   
  The new program will allow for members to be reassigned to a higher tier based on their play; this movement can occur as a result of a player requesting that his/her play be reevaluated or by Casino Royale's periodic evaluations; being reassigned to a lower tier because of play is an unknown at this time
   
  They are hoping to launch the new program starting April or May but also said its implementation may be delayed due to dissemination of information to them, the membership, and employees. They are hoping to send out an email sometime in March with information regarding the new program, however that email may be limited in its scope.
   
  The Club is referring to the time period the new program is put into effect and the March 15, 2016 as a time for sort of "double-dipping" as members will still be able to get cash rebates along with those guaranteed perks for their tier.
   
  Though the Club has not been given the specifics to date, they have been told that the perks assigned to each tier will be equal if not better than those of land-based casinos.
  

Please feel free to ask me any other questions that I might have the answers to but accidently omitted herein.

I did a complete review of cabin 7648 with pictures. A search should turn it up.

I for one dislike DD. I was with my family on the Quantum inaugural but usually travel alone -- I did not care for the limited menus, the time it took to "experience" the meal, and making my family's reservations to coordinate with show times six months in advance.

I have a number of future cruises currently booked, but if at some point DD goes fleet wide, I will be cruising on another line.

Thank you to everyone who checked their C&A for me.

I log onto my cruises and it says "your detailed crown and anchor information is not currently available. You can continue browsing the site, but please keep in mind that anything pertaining to your crown and anchor membership information will not be viewable at this time."

Is this a problem specific to me or is anyone else receiving the same message.?

It will be interesting to see if any new ports will be added once Tourtrek is launched. RCI has stated that this subsidiary will coordinate land-based vacations in over 90 countries.

I know that I would thoroughly enjoy booking both a cruise and a land-based vacation together.

What? Never heard of that! Can't see how they could force you to play your winnings back without a choice of cashing out.

 

Are you sure you couldn't go to the casino cashier and cash out there? This is the way they do it on Carnival ships. You set up a player account with your date of birth and a password. Any winnings go to the account so when you change machines you "cash out" to the player account. Go to another machine and download any part of the account to the new machine and so on. When you want your money in cash you just take your card to the cashier and they give you any money in the account.

I think you misunderstood, I am not talking about cashing out your winnings which you do so at the cashier on RCCL ships with the ticket any slot machine gives you when you cash out. I am talking about the points awarded for play; on RCCL ships you can use your points to get things like T shirts, drinks, etc. With the exception of the Quantum (and I have been made to understand also on the Oasis class ships) you can no longer receive cash for your points -- $20. per 1,000. accumulated points. You must either play out the points using the new Personal Banker on each machine or trade them in for the other items.

Am curious if the new "Personal Banker" has been installed on slot machines in the Grandeur. Much to my surprise while on the Quantum inaugural, I found that I could not cash out my points as I usually do at the end of my cruise; instead, I was told I had to "play them out."

Can anyone give me an update on the Grandeur slots as I am doing a B2B in January and want to know what to expect?

check out my review -- pics of the SB cabin are towards the end of the thread

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2133777

Hi

 

Has anybody been on Quantum booking a Studio OceanView Stateroom W/Balcony for 2 persons? Is it decent or we will be like the sardines in a tin can :-)?

 

Me and my wife are slim people and for $1500 less (on the 12 nights one) I am very tempted to book that instead of a normal OceanView with balcony and wonder if it will be a big mistake or not.

 

Thanks

Hope my review and cabin pics are helpful.

Thanks to another CC member, who explained how to post the pictures correctly.

Thanks for the help!

http://s1050.photobucket.com/user/nova100000/library/?sort=6&page=1

Not sure if I did this right, if it doesn't work I will try again.

Yes, one table, but the limits were higher on some nights.

There was nothing to interfere with seeing forward from the outer edge of the balcony or aft. You can see down the entire ship. However, unlike other RCCL ships that I have been on (never been on Oasis Class so don't know if it is the same) the lifeboats are mounted on the edge of a lower deck, so looking down and to your right you look right into them.

There are always glitches when turning out a new ship, so hopefully most will be fixed by the time I board again. As I said earlier, I am going to have to modify my packing/storage. I am hoping the Windjammer has more variety in its hot food and that the weather is warm. Apart from that, 12 nights aboard a ship that floats, is clean, and has a solarium is still better than 12 nights of cold NY winter weather.