Entertainment- how to schedule :)

[prettyNpinkpumps]

Hi everyone!! Some of you may remember I posted about a month or so ago asking for advice about flying in the day of due to my husband's job... well, after all of your wonderful advice, my husband was able to work it out and we will be flying in the evening before!! :) I'm so relieved! Thanks for the wonderful advice!

 

Now on to another question.... since this is our first cruise, I'm confused about some stuff. We will be sailing Oasis on Oct. 20. We made the final payment yesterday (YAY!!! :D). I want to be able to book our entertainment/make a schedule for us... how do I know which shows to book when. For example, if Hairspray is offered on a couple of different nights, how do I know which one to schedule so that it doesn't interfere with something else, etc. Does that make sense?! We will be doing the Eastern Caribbean. Any advice would be great! Thanks so much.

[Flying Solo]

I would suggest that you decide what you really want to see the most and start booking those. If you end up with a conflict, it's likely that you would be able to change it later. We booked a lot of our reservations once we got on board. We boarded at just a little after 11 am and went down to Studio B (the ice rink). They have a number of people sitting on either side of the rink with laptops booking reservations. The line moved quickly, so we didn't waste a lot of time on it.

 

It certainly is a good idea to have reservations for the shows, but I found that I had worried too much about making sure there were no "conflicts". We even ended up seeing Hairspray twice because we walked into the balcony and just stood in back with no reservations at all. You might also be able to do this with the Aqua show but it can be a bit more difficult to be able to see everything. My daughter really liked Hairspray, that's why we saw it twice, but my our families personal favorite was "Come Fly with Me".

 

So, try to book the shows the best you can, but most importantly,,,, always keep in mind that you are gonna have a great time even if a few things don't quite work out according to plan.

[latnballer]

I just booked our reservations for our Sept 29th Oasis booking. It helped that I had printed the daily compasses that have been posted here. With the compasses I was able to see if there was anything conflicting that we would be interested in. We will probably not be eating in the MDR (have 2 boys DS3, DS9mos), so it wasn't important which showing to attend.

[CRUISE4JANE]

This seems very confusing. I will be booking on RCI soon and never knew you had to book a show. Guess I will be learning a lot on this board. :confused:

[idalia]

This seems very confusing. I will be booking on RCI soon and never knew you had to book a show. Guess I will be learning a lot on this board. :confused:

 

This only applies on certain ships.

 

Entertainment Reservations

 

Please Note: Pre-reservations for our theaters and shows are only available for

Oasis of the Seas, Allure of the Seas, Freedom of the Seas

and

Liberty of the Seas

. Seating for entertainment is on a first come, first serve basis. For all other ships, see your onboard Cruise Compass for show times.

 

-

Pre-cruise Planner

 

(BTW, your similar question asked, was answered yesterday over here.)

[prettyNpinkpumps]

Thanks everyone! I guess now I just need to find Eastern compasses so I can have an idea. :)

[Familygoboston]

So glad your travel issues are resolved! You will be so much more relaxed!

 

If you are a planner like me...here is what worked for us! If not others have had a wonderful time just showing up, though most reviewers recommend booking shows in advance.

 

First- do get the Compasses

Eastern:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1539995

Western:

http://www.*****.com/cruise-compasses/oasis-seas/2012-05-26t040000

 

2- print up one of these PDF s from Royal Showtimes at a Glance ( SAG) for your itinerary East or West)

 

http://media.royalcaribbean.com/content/en_US/pdf/showtimes/showtimes_OA.pdf

 

3-make a list by day and general times morning, midday, dinner and evening, or use the planner on the website, thou I like to make my own spread sheet

 

4-look over the compasses and jot down any non reserved shows or activities you know you want to do ( such as the Quest) and note any excursions you plan to take

 

5- using the SAG schedule the shows that interest you according to your needs (early shows with little kids, like late shows after early dinner etc) These dnt change much at all from crusie to cruise unless there is a holiday, so do avoid using a holiday SAG or Compass.

 

6-note when the you plan to dine ( MTD you can choose each night, or if it's regular scheduled times, you can jot in those times) The SAG will tell you how long each show is and plan on dining taking 2 hours and give yourselves a 1/2 hour to get to your show/ wait for seats if you care too. Now you can see where specialty dining will fit

 

7- you can book you specialty or MTD reservations around your expected shows and activities

 

8- when your entertainment is available to book, books those, and you can make changes in dining if you dnt get your first choice ( pretty unusual if you book early).

 

Once everything is booked print your own schedule and the one online with RCL, if you need to make changes you can do it online before you leave, once onboard by going to Studio B the first day ( or the dining venue in question) or on your cabin TV. There are always seats/ reservations for people to book once onboard. I just rather use my onboard time enjoying the cruise instead of making reservations. This worked perfectly for us! Good luck!

[39august]

If you are sailing Freedom there is really no need to schedule shows, as there is no "broadway" type show on Freedom.