Royal not the only one charging

[Jumbiecruiser]

Looks like Carnival is taking a page from Royal Caribbean. Guess Royal's success led Carnival to try and make an extra buck.:D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1284896

[shipshape sam]

Looks like Carnival is taking a page from Royal Caribbean. Guess Royal's success led Carnival to try and make an extra buck.:D

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1284896

 

Won't see me paying extra in MDR on any cruise. If the food quality drops sufficiently, I may reconsider sailing as that is one of my enjoyments, eating/enjoying the company of other tablemates.

 

Our last cruise was our worst experience in over 25 cruises. Had tablemates not show up for over half the evenings as they ate at Speciality Restaurants, but took up space at fixed dining. For the record, we also went to a Speciality Restaurant one evening. It was excellant, but would not like to think I have to spend another $200 +/week/person to get that quality of food/service every night(7 days).

[elfie]

I like this solution. If you want to pay extra for a premium item you can, if not just order of the regular menu. I would do it in a heart beat. My money, my choice. If I'm the only one doing it, the option will go away, if it's successful maybe I will start enjoying the food on RCI more then I have.

[Tranquil Waters]

Won't see me paying extra in MDR on any cruise. If the food quality drops sufficiently, I may reconsider sailing as that is one of my enjoyments, eating/enjoying the company of other tablemates.

 

Our last cruise was our worst experience in over 25 cruises. Had tablemates not show up for over half the evenings as they ate at Speciality Restaurants, but took up space at fixed dining. For the record, we also went to a Speciality Restaurant one evening. It was excellant, but would not like to think I have to spend another $200 +/week/person to get that quality of food/service every night(7 days).

 

It wasn't their choice to take up space at fixed dining. RCI won't let you not sign up for dining when you book. You have to select MTD or MDR. You can't just say Specialty. And if you don't want to prepay tips (some people want to make their own tipping decisions based on who earns them without going to a hassle at the end of a cruise) then you have to say MDR. :)

 

But I agree that it would be nice if RCI allowed you to not sign up for MTD or MDR if you weren't planning to use either one......

[hcat]

I think charging extra other than for drinks/wine in the MDR is really tacky! That's what the Specialty venues are for...

[flcruzer03]

There have been times when we choose not to eat in the MDR for our cruise...but on the first day we stopped by the dining room & released "our" spot at the table...

[ChipLondon]

All cruise lines will closely watch the successes or failures of the others, now that Royal have tested and extended the Chops steak offering across the fleet, it is natural that other cruise lines will copy. I would expect them to, after all they are a business, and as long as customers will pay for the extras then the cruise lines will continue to charge.

For me I would never pay extra in any MDR, however I am happy to use speciality restaurants, and consider then to be good value, and great quality. I am really looking forward to the Samba grill on The Allure.

[shipshape sam]

It wasn't their choice to take up space at fixed dining. RCI won't let you not sign up for dining when you book. You have to select MTD or MDR. You can't just say Specialty. And if you don't want to prepay tips (some people want to make their own tipping decisions based on who earns them without going to a hassle at the end of a cruise) then you have to say MDR. :)

 

But I agree that it would be nice if RCI allowed you to not sign up for MTD or MDR if you weren't planning to use either one......

 

That is interesting that you have to choose early/main or late/second seating with other options now like MyTime dining and the number of Speciality Restuarants. On Allure we did choose MyTime dining (I think that is what it is called) and plan to try out the Speciality Restaurants on this cruise. I have booked 5 reservations and 2 MyTime dining reservations already. We did have to prepay our tips via my credit card. Guess I "bit the bullet" and paid the $68/person suggested gratituity vs booking a table at MDR and not showing up!

 

This, to me, raises another issue.... the whole issue of prebooking all kinds of things. We also booked slots(tickets) for shows. So much for a relaxing, free flowing vacation. On the Speciality Restaurant AND MyTime dining, when I did go to book, many time slots were already full! Guess MyTime is somewhat a misnomer. I had to book one night 45 earlier than I would have preferred.

 

Looking at also booking SPA and excursions. Wonder if they take bookings for pool chairs ?! :rolleyes:

[shipshape sam]

All cruise lines will closely watch the successes or failures of the others, now that Royal have tested and extended the Chops steak offering across the fleet, it is natural that other cruise lines will copy. I would expect them to, after all they are a business, and as long as customers will pay for the extras then the cruise lines will continue to charge.

For me I would never pay extra in any MDR, however I am happy to use speciality restaurants, and consider then to be good value, and great quality. I am really looking forward to the Samba grill on The Allure.

 

 

I am also looking forward to trying Samba! Have our reservation!

 

Also, I have heard lots of great comments about the Chef's Table and booked it also.

[Aquahound]

I think charging extra other than for drinks/wine in the MDR is really tacky! That's what the Specialty venues are for...

 

Specialty restaurants are often "no kids," or the entire party doesn't always want to go, or sometimes folks just don't want to commit the 2+ hours it takes to eat there. I think it's a great idea to have an item off the specialty restaurant menu available in the MDR. There was a lot of flaming from other cruise line folks over this topic. I predict many of them will suddenly understand it's not such a bad thing.

[mrpayroll]

This is being tried on only THREE carnival ships that DO NOT have any speciality dining rooms....

[Tranquil Waters]

That is interesting that you have to choose early/main or late/second seating with other options now like MyTime dining and the number of Speciality Restuarants. On Allure we did choose MyTime dining (I think that is what it is called) and plan to try out the Speciality Restaurants on this cruise. I have booked 5 reservations and 2 MyTime dining reservations already. We did have to prepay our tips via my credit card. Guess I "bit the bullet" and paid the $68/person suggested gratituity vs booking a table at MDR and not showing up!

 

This, to me, raises another issue.... the whole issue of prebooking all kinds of things. We also booked slots(tickets) for shows. So much for a relaxing, free flowing vacation. On the Speciality Restaurant AND MyTime dining, when I did go to book, many time slots were already full! Guess MyTime is somewhat a misnomer. I had to book one night 45 earlier than I would have preferred.

 

Looking at also booking SPA and excursions. Wonder if they take bookings for pool chairs ?! :rolleyes:

 

I have no prob with the amount of the gratuities for a cruise. I just like having the option of shifting those amounts to those most deserving. We have had occasion where the assistant waiter provided a much better service with a much more pleasing personality than the waiter - and so we gave him the suggested waiter tip and gave the waiter the amount suggested for asst waiter. We do go to the MDR on the first day of the cruise to let them know if we will not be dining in the MDR but that does not always mean that they will fill the seats with someone else.

 

I have thought the same thing about all the reservations needed these days (especially for the larger ship)s and how this meshes with a "carefree" vacation experience.

[jmraggs]

As long as they don't remove items from the MDR menu when the "up charge" items are added, I really don't care as I don't have to pay extra if I don't wish to. Maybe they just decided to offer more of a selection according to people's complaints. Some people enjoy eating in the MDR but they want better food, so this would be an option instead of going to the specialty restaurant even if the ship had one. I think it's great to offer this on ships without a specialty restaurant.

 

Now I know that some people may say that this a prelude to the cruise lines reducing the quality of the food in the MDR so people will pay the extra fee, but I personally haven't seen this as of yet regarding the extra choices that you may wish to order or not.

[ChipLondon]

The Chefs table on The Allure will be fabulous, well it will be if it matches the one on The Oasis, we really enjoyed that.:)

 

I am also looking forward to trying Samba! Have our reservation!

 

Also, I have heard lots of great comments about the Chef's Table and booked it also.

[Jumbiecruiser]

This is being tried on only THREE carnival ships that DO NOT have any speciality dining rooms....

 

Doesn't mean anything. When Royal tested this, they did it one ship that had Chops and one that did not. It was eventually moved fleet wide. Carnival will do the same thing if it is successful.

[tracyanns]

I think this idea is fine...gives people more choices. I know sometimes I would like to order a filet or a lobster when it is not offered on the menu...I know that they all have lobster in the MDR one night but the one you get from the specialty restaurants is larger...

 

As to the poster that mentioned the quality of food declining so people don't eat in the MDR and kind of have to pay for a decent meal...that is how I feel about NCL...I don't eat in the MDR at all, pay for dinner each night as I think this is what they did...hopefully RCCL and CCL will not follow suit...

[Sammy Sails]

Chioce is everything..You decide.

We tried My Time dining on another ship, it was ok. but we were a party of 10, and SOMEONE (daughter in law) was ALWAYS late..... They were not happy to seat only part of the party as we needed a large table. Good point we did have the same table every night because of the size.

This cruise early set table is our choice.

[shipshape sam]

I have no prob with the amount of the gratuities for a cruise. I just like having the option of shifting those amounts to those most deserving. We have had occasion where the assistant waiter provided a much better service with a much more pleasing personality than the waiter - and so we gave him the suggested waiter tip and gave the waiter the amount suggested for asst waiter. We do go to the MDR on the first day of the cruise to let them know if we will not be dining in the MDR but that does not always mean that they will fill the seats with someone else.

 

I have thought the same thing about all the reservations needed these days (especially for the larger ship)s and how this meshes with a "carefree" vacation experience.

 

I do think it is odd and somewhat unfair that MyTime dining has to pay gratituties when you make the decision to go with MyTime, in our case 5 months prior to cruise. I agree with tipping more for those crew members providing excellant service. We have always given suggested amount plus cash to specific crew members if we received great service.

 

I can only say in my experience, 25+ cruises on RCL, Celebrity, Princess, Carnival and Holland America that the food quality has declined over the years (since 1998). The quantity has not declined, but the quality has for us. Secondly, I will also mention that we never got the table side service/presentations we get in the Speciality Restaurants, so I am not suggesting the MDR once was of the level of the Speciality Restuarant experience - at least for us.

[crusinmama06]

Excuse me while I laugh! :p

 

Where are all of those "Free Steaks of the Seas" commenters now?

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist. ;)

[grand isle joe]

It amazes me that some people don't realize the cruise industry is a business. They must stay profitable to exist. Some proudly state how cheap they got their room with an OBC to boot. And then they protest on any and all price increases in other areas. How do you think the cruise line raises money to pay their "nut" for the ship? It seems that many who protest prices the most are those who the rest of the cruisers subsidize. As most things offered onboard it is an option and if it does not agree with your beliefs than politely refuse. But don't get offended...it's business.;)

[shipshape sam]

It amazes me that some people don't realize the cruise industry is a business. They must stay profitable to exist. Some proudly state how cheap they got their room with an OBC to boot. And then they protest on any and all price increases in other areas. How do you think the cruise line raises money to pay their "nut" for the ship? It seems that many who protest prices the most are those who the rest of the cruisers subsidize. As most things offered onboard it is an option and if it does not agree with your beliefs than politely refuse. But don't get offended...it's business.;)

 

I agree. But, sometimes it is also nice to talk about it. You might be swayed by someone to consider a different opinion. How would you ever change your opinion if you don't discuss things at times and get differing view points, even slight variations that might at least modify the intensity of an opinion/stance?

 

Shirley you at times like to talk/grip!

[shipshape sam]

The Chefs table on The Allure will be fabulous, well it will be if it matches the one on The Oasis, we really enjoyed that.:)

 

Doing anything in December? :) I would love to do a B2B on a 14-15 day cruise and get a month on a ship. Looks like you will get to know Allure real well!

[critterchick]

I do think it is odd and somewhat unfair that MyTime dining has to pay gratituties when you make the decision to go with MyTime, in our case 5 months prior to cruise. I agree with tipping more for those crew members providing excellant service. We have always given suggested amount plus cash to specific crew members if we received great service.

 

You don't actually pay the gratuities until final payment, not when you book the cruise.

 

I used to think that it was fairer to my fellow passengers to select MTD instead of fixed seating, but MTD is now popular enough that one sometimes can't get it. So my choice is either to book it and then deprive somebody of the opportunity to have it (and then not use it because I don't really like the MDR experience) or to select a fixed seating and have an empty couple of seats at a table somewhere. "None of the above" is usually my choice, but RCI insists that you pick an MDR option whether you plan to dine there or not.

[Cruising89143]

Excuse me while I laugh! :p

 

Where are all of those "Free Steaks of the Seas" commenters now?

 

Sorry, I couldn't resist. ;)

 

Ohhhh, I'm tempted but will hold myself back.:D

[Patty00]

It wasn't their choice to take up space at fixed dining. RCI won't let you not sign up for dining when you book. You have to select MTD or MDR. You can't just say Specialty. And if you don't want to prepay tips (some people want to make their own tipping decisions based on who earns them without going to a hassle at the end of a cruise) then you have to say MDR. :)

 

But I agree that it would be nice if RCI allowed you to not sign up for MTD or MDR if you weren't planning to use either one......

 

I am so glad that you wrote that!! I hope RC reads that they need another dinning category.....like Specialty restaurants or folks who just want to eat in the Windjammer! They have a assigned table and never show up but everyone at the table has to wait before the waiter can take the order. Doesn't sound fair to me.....