DaveTheNerd

Here's a beer menu:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=38675006&postcount=4

 

The beer package is $39 per day so you can figure out for yourself if it would be worth it.

If I'm reading that correctly (and if it's up-to-date) I'm surprised to see that they only have one India Pale Ale on the menu ... and equally surprised that it's not included with the Ultimate package. With the popularity of IPAs these days, that seems off.

Fair point. Still, I'd like to use my OBC to buy so my initial question still stands: where, on-board, would I go to upgrade my package (on day 1 or day 2)?

Where, on board, would one go to upgrade/buy a drink package on, say, day 2? I ask because I've been advised to wait until day 2 to buy the package, as it's tough to "make one's quota" on day 1. :)

DH and I are both self employed, and both happily love our work. So we tend to be very connected. [...] I know people tend to think it's terrible that we work while we're on a cruise, but I personally I think it's pretty cool that we're both lucky enough to love our work and not want to escape it.

Interesting, and thanks for sharing this. For the record, I don't think what you do is terrible, at all. ;)

I, too, am self-employed and really do love what I do (ok, well, most days I love what I do... there are always those occasional exceptions that I call, "the days for which I really get paid."). I love the people that work with me, and I love all of our readers of the website and listeners of the podcast. I truly am quite fortunate to be able to earn a living helping people and doing something I love.

I detach for a very different reason. When we were planning our first cruise in 2006, it was about 8 years after we started the main business (at the time... not the FIRST business, of course) and while we had certainly vacationed, I hadn't ever really detached. I remember my daughter (6 at the time of planning, turned 7 on board the Disney Magic) asked me, "Wait, Daddy... if we do a cruise, would your cell phone work? Could you get email?"

That was enough for me to realize that no matter how much I loved my work, it is a distraction from me spending quality time with my family. As such, a habit started, and I've found that detaching is not only good for me and my family, it's good for my employees, too. On that first cruise I had a guy who worked for me who really grew his confidence knowing that I trusted him to make decisions and not run everything by me.

Now, things have changed significantly since then... on this cruise I'm worried that the smartphones my kids (now) have will distract them from me, but... that's how life goes, isn't it? ;)

We've done a mix of both MDR and speciality, but never done WJ/buffet for dinner (though that's probably a good option sometimes... I bet it's pretty empty in there!). We're heading out on a 7-day RCL cruise next month and have 3 nights of speciality booked. We were going to do two, but booking 3 got us 30% back as OBC so it's pretty much a free 3rd night in speciality.

I'm not convinced they'll be able to do this across the board. If they have avails, they'll want to fill them.

But I have an idea for folks at RCCL (or anyone else listening): offer credits if the price of someone's room goes down, even after final payment is made.

If a cruise line wants to show that it's aligning its interests with those of its customers, that's the way to do it. Then they can discount last-minute all they want... but it'll cost 'em. ;)

I'm curious how many folks here like to stay connected (i.e. with Internet/email/etc) while away on a cruise vs. how many will detach. I've always detached 100% in the past and likely will again on our upcoming cruise next month, but am curious about others.

Also even more curious which apps folks tend to use on board? In the past I've enjoyed using SkySafari to identify stars and constellations while cruising at night (and, yes, it works even without data connection!), though that app is a bit long-in-the-tooth and there are likely others that are better.

In any event, just curious which ones you all use?

How about the guests boarding in Rotterdam Oct 14th?

That was already answered by @RoyalCaribbean: "Guests on the 10/14 sailing will not be affected."

Yet another post from @RoyalCaribPR regarding the Oasis: "the main dining spaces will be remodeled during drydock but Dynamic Dining will begin March 2015."

More details from @RoyalCaribbean: "Guests booked on Oasis from 10/15/2014 - 3/2015 will continue to dine in the Main Dining Room at their preferred time."

This is going to make sailing in November a very... experimental experience!

So there are still some paid/surcharge restaurants even with Dynamic Dining, right? It'll be interesting to see how things on the Oasis change, as I've got to assume at least some of the current specialty restaurants will be repurposed for DD.

And we're sailing in November, so we get to be guinea pigs. ;)