🐾 🐾 Sea Dog gets Wet, a "Soggy Adventure LIVE" 10-21-23

[Sunshine3601]

31 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Yeah I have a 10 day on Celebrity Beyond in April. It does worry me.

I maybe need to wear the compression stockings at night in the cabin.

Yes I drank a lot of water.

Did you drink their tap water or bottled water?    On some cruises in the past where I drank tap water I had cankles but someone suggested drinking bottled water only and that helped a lot.   

 

compression socks/stockings are not recommended when laying down and they will do nothing for you as it is all in gravity.    

[Sea Dog]

4 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

A reduction in beverages might have helped to avoid the hot pepper sauce incident, but I think the readers enjoyed the description of how it happened. 
 

Greg has sacrificed on a few different fronts for his virtual guests. 

 

 

Thank you for recognizing my sacrifice. 🤣

 

 

1 minute ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Did you drink their tap water or bottled water?    On some cruises in the past where I drank tap water I had cankles but someone suggested drinking bottled water only and that helped a lot.   

 

compression socks/stockings are not recommended when laying down and they will do nothing for you as it is all in gravity.    

 

Good to know I did not know that. Thanks.

[StanleyandGus]

Thanks for a great review! I think I want to go to the Soggy Dollar bar-  I really don’t drink much, but that day looks to have been perfect!

[Sea Dog]

A Fairy Tale....

 

 

What else can I say about the excursion with Captain Tom and the amazing Chillout Charters Boat. It was was the best day ever. Good friends, beautiful day? And some painkillers even though it may not have helped my knee pain go completely away but it did give me a very happy glow.

 

 

The day was just magical, a fairy tale but then again I'm a guy so maybe a comic book story?

 

ENJOY!!

 

 

[c-leg5]

36 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

I found that to be true.

 

44 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Not always, reservation line can be long also.

A lot depends on the time you need to eat.

 

If you MUST eat the minute they open, there will be a line, especially since people are now lining up early to try and jump the line to fill tables where first sitting diners haven’t shown up.

 

A lot depends on the efficiency, discipline and training of the hosts. Guests that show up early should be in the non-reservation line and should not be circumventing those that have the first available reserved times, who should be in the reservation line, and should have a table available at their allocated time.

 

The system is never going to work while you are mixing traditional and MTD diners in the same area, IMO. Royal had a perfectly good system in operation when they had an area of the dining room dedicated to MTD. It functioned like a regular restaurant with reservations and walk-ins, as available. Dining started maybe 30 minutes (? - I never eat that early) after traditional early dining. There were busy times and quiet times depending on scheduled events but if you had a reservation you were seated in a timely manner. If you walk-up you should expect there may be a delay. One thing that I noticed on Adventure last year was that when we tried to cancel our standing MTD reservation to free up our table on nights where we arranged specialty dining or had decided to go to WJ, they were not interested.  We have always done this in the past. This in itself points to a lack of efficiency and co-ordination within the system. 

 

I know @Sea Dog suggested MTD should be intermingled on all three floors. That would be a worse nightmare to me. We have done MTD almost since its inception. It became very efficient. It worked as it was.  Some dining rooms have entrances and podiums on both sides of the dining room, in addition to reservation/non-reservation lines and it was notable on those ships that the host on one side was sometimes more efficient than the other. I can’t imagine having podiums on all three floors, or even worse checking in on top floor to be told there was a table available on the bottom level.

[jmh2006]

36 minutes ago, Husky1987 said:

Stevie was very happy to see us when we got home about midnight last night.

 

 

IMG_4429.mov 45.7 MB · 7 downloads  

 

Awwww Stevie is so handsome!

[jmh2006]

23 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

A Fairy Tale....

 

 

What else can I say about the excursion with Captain Tom and the amazing Chillout Charters Boat. It was was the best day ever. Good friends, beautiful day? And some painkillers even though it may not have helped my knee pain go completely away but it did give me a very happy glow.

 

 

The day was just magical, a fairy tale but then again I'm a guy so maybe a comic book story?

 

ENJOY!!

 

 

Top notch as always Greg!!

[Arzeena]

55 minutes ago, Sunshine3601 said:

Did you drink their tap water or bottled water?    On some cruises in the past where I drank tap water I had cankles but someone suggested drinking bottled water only and that helped a lot.   

 

compression socks/stockings are not recommended when laying down and they will do nothing for you as it is all in gravity.    

Try dry brushing.

[mo&fran]

5 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

 

A lot depends on the time you need to eat.

 

If you MUST eat the minute they open, there will be a line, especially since people are now lining up early to try and jump the line to fill tables where first sitting diners haven’t shown up.

 

A lot depends on the efficiency, discipline and training of the hosts. Guests that show up early should be in the non-reservation line and should not be circumventing those that have the first available reserved times, who should be in the reservation line, and should have a table available at their allocated time.

 

The system is never going to work while you are mixing traditional and MTD diners in the same area, IMO. Royal had a perfectly good system in operation when they had an area of the dining room dedicated to MTD. It functioned like a regular restaurant with reservations and walk-ins, as available. Dining started maybe 30 minutes (? - I never eat that early) after traditional early dining. There were busy times and quiet times depending on scheduled events but if you had a reservation you were seated in a timely manner. If you walk-up you should expect there may be a delay. One thing that I noticed on Adventure last year was that when we tried to cancel our standing MTD reservation to free up our table on nights where we arranged specialty dining or had decided to go to WJ, they were not interested.  We have always done this in the past. This in itself points to a lack of efficiency and co-ordination within the system. 

 

I know @Sea Dog suggested MTD should be intermingled on all three floors. That would be a worse nightmare to me. We have done MTD almost since its inception. It became very efficient. It worked as it was.  Some dining rooms have entrances and podiums on both sides of the dining room, in addition to reservation/non-reservation lines and it was notable on those ships that the host on one side was sometimes more efficient than the other. I can’t imagine having podiums on all three floors, or even worse checking in on top floor to be told there was a table available on the bottom level.

I really agree with you on the background on MTD, we have used it for  close to 20 years , and it always worked very well. After the restart, there was an issue with wait staff, all 3 dining rooms were not open, so the lower level was a mix, with MTD starting later, waiting for traditional first seating to leave.

 One suggestion I have is, if you have a reservation you are happy with the time, show up on time for the first night, so if you are happy with the location and wait staff, indicate that you would like that for the entire cruise. 

 I will say, when I show up the first night, and I see a huge line for people with reservations, if they all really have reservations,  or do the just wish they had reservations.

 Is there a solution, I would think they could just decide how many traditional tables to reserve, which dining rooms they will use, and the rest is MTD. And let those MTD people eat at 530, no harm, no foul.  And, if they want random other people to sit with them, I would imagine that can happen.  In all of the years we have been doing MTD, we have pretty much always had the same table, and we have found  that often the same people will be sitting at a close by table, and we have gotten to know each other, even if we  don't actually sit at the same table.

 

[Jimbo]

Wouldn't it be easier to just trash MTD all together and just go back to Early and Late Dining for all.

 

Never had 1 single issue EVER when they did it that way.

[doghog]

2 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Wouldn't it be easier to just trash MTD all together and just go back to Early and Late Dining for all.

 

Never had 1 single issue EVER when they did it that way.

I agree. 

 

We never had any issue pre shut down with MTD. However, the current way RC is managing MTD sucks and why we've switched back to TD even though we consider 5:30 PM to early. Prefer 6:00 PM start time.

[irishgal432]

My husband drinks Pelegríno water to help with the welling. 

[c-leg5]

5 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

I really agree with you on the background on MTD, we have used it for  close to 20 years , and it always worked very well. After the restart, there was an issue with wait staff, all 3 dining rooms were not open, so the lower level was a mix, with MTD starting later, waiting for traditional first seating to leave.

 One suggestion I have is, if you have a reservation you are happy with the time, show up on time for the first night, so if you are happy with the location and wait staff, indicate that you would like that for the entire cruise. 

 I will say, when I show up the first night, and I see a huge line for people with reservations, if they all really have reservations,  or do the just wish they had reservations.

 Is there a solution, I would think they could just decide how many traditional tables to reserve, which dining rooms they will use, and the rest is MTD. And let those MTD people eat at 530, no harm, no foul.  And, if they want random other people to sit with them, I would imagine that can happen.  In all of the years we have been doing MTD, we have pretty much always had the same table, and we have found  that often the same people will be sitting at a close by table, and we have gotten to know each other, even if we  don't actually sit at the same table.

 

+1, that has always been our modus operandi. You will recall like us that it started with a small section of the top dining room and as popularity grew it expanded into occupying the whole of the ground floor.
 

We tend to gravitate towards the 7.15-7.45 timeframe, which is also a popular timeslot for those wishing to eat between traditional times, in fact it was often blocked out from the pre-reserving prior to sailing. We often booked the earliest late time available as a placeholder but were often able to adjust some nights on board. 
 

I agree with reserving the same table and waitstaff for the rest of the week if you are happy after the first night. However MTD has the advantage of being able to easily change table or waitstaff if you don’t like either or want to eat at different times.

 

I agree that there was a problem with available seating and waitstaff initially but I have read reports that they had tried to introduce this mixed MTD/traditional areas pre-Covid. I don’t know what ships this was on but we never experienced that. 

[doghog]

IMO, everyone is different and what effects swelling. My wife rarely adds salt to her food and drinks the ships water along with wine. I add salt to everything and drink the ships water, drink wine, beer and sometimes whisky (neat). My wife drinks coffee with breakfast and I never drink coffee. Neither one of us drink soda. She always wears compression socks when flying but not always on the ship or in port. Her ankles always swell and mine never do. 

[akcruz]

35 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

Wouldn't it be easier to just trash MTD all together and just go back to Early and Late Dining for all.

 

Never had 1 single issue EVER when they did it that way.

 

The biggest problem with traditional times is that a table is held for you even if you specialty dining or the Windjammer each night.  Have been at a table for 8 where we are the only ones there most nights, not enjoyable.

 

We preferred MTD early on but the last 2 cruises have been a mess with very long lines in both the reservation and non reservation lines.  What bothered me most is that they were seating people in the non reservation line while people missed their reserved time due to standing in line. Those with reservations should be seated first.  Next cruise is Celebrity with an early, 6 PM, dining time.  Not sure what we will do moving forward.

Edited October 29, 2023 by akcruz

[akcruz]

5 minutes ago, doghog said:

IMO, everyone is different and what effects swelling. My wife rarely adds salt to her food and drinks the ships water along with wine. I add salt to everything and drink the ships water, drink wine, beer and sometimes whisky (neat). My wife drinks coffee with breakfast and I never drink coffee. Neither one of us drink soda. She always wears compression socks when flying but not always on the ship or in port. Her ankles always swell and mine never do. 

 

Agree everyone's system handles potential swelling differently however will add for some skipping the ships water when possible can help.  It has been stated on here a few times the desalination process strips a lot of the mineral in the tap water including potassium which helps rid the body of salt.  I know many can drink the ship water without issue but I have found for me sticking to bottled water when possible has helped me tremendously.  I still drink the coffee and once in a while the flavored waters but try to limit those.

[doghog]

7 minutes ago, akcruz said:

 

Agree everyone's system handles potential swelling differently however will add for some skipping the ships water when possible can help.  It has been stated on here a few times the desalination process strips a lot of the mineral in the tap water including potassium which helps rid the body of salt.  I know many can drink the ship water without issue but I have found for me sticking to bottled water when possible has helped me tremendously.  I still drink the coffee and once in a while the flavored waters but try to limit those.

When we cruise with Celebrity we always get the CBP. We both drink only the bottled water when having water and not the ships water. My wife still has ankle swelling. Not me. 

Edited October 29, 2023 by doghog

[doghog]

5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Finally had a decent night sleep but I had to get my feet elevated to try and reduce my cankles. This morning the swelling has gone down quite a bit. Still wish I figure out besides the salt in food and being in tge salty air and sea on a cruise ship why mine swell more than usual. By day 7 on the cruise my feet and ankles were larger than Fred Flintstones.

Not to be nosey, but do you take high blood pressure medicine? 

[mo&fran]

25 minutes ago, c-leg5 said:

+1, that has always been our modus operandi. You will recall like us that it started with a small section of the top dining room and as popularity grew it expanded into occupying the whole of the ground floor.
 

We tend to gravitate towards the 7.15-7.45 timeframe, which is also a popular timeslot for those wishing to eat between traditional times, in fact it was often blocked out from the pre-reserving prior to sailing. We often booked the earliest late time available as a placeholder but were often able to adjust some nights on board. 
 

I agree with reserving the same table and waitstaff for the rest of the week if you are happy after the first night. However MTD has the advantage of being able to easily change table or waitstaff if you don’t like either or want to eat at different times.

 

I agree that there was a problem with available seating and waitstaff initially but I have read reports that they had tried to introduce this mixed MTD/traditional areas pre-Covid. I don’t know what ships this was on but we never experienced that. 

I was thinking we have may encountered a mix on Harmony (at least on he first  times)  We were seated on the lowest level , and that could have been what was going on. It was no big deal, we just went to eat wherever we were told. Most of the time, we had been on the higher levels, looking down on the captains table.  

[Jimbo]

21 minutes ago, akcruz said:

 

The biggest problem with traditional times is that a table is held for you even if you specialty dining or the Windjammer each night.  Have been at a table for 8 where we are the only ones there most nights, not enjoyable.

 

 

A just for that reason we have never asked to be at a large table since our first cruise. Did that on our very first cruise and never again. Always ask for a table for 2 and have never been disappointed since.

[mo&fran]

23 minutes ago, akcruz said:

 

The biggest problem with traditional times is that a table is held for you even if you specialty dining or the Windjammer each night.  Have been at a table for 8 where we are the only ones there most nights, not enjoyable.

 

We preferred MTD early on but the last 2 cruises have been a mess with very long lines in both the reservation and non reservation lines.  What bothered me most is that they were seating people in the non reservation line while people missed their reserved time due to standing in line. Those with reservations should be seated first.  Next cruise is Celebrity with an early, 6 PM, dining time.  Not sure what we will do moving forward.

We have gone to the non reservation line and been seated, because  we did have a reservation  and the other line was too long. Like I said, you never know who does and who doesn't.

  

[c-leg5]

9 minutes ago, Jimbo said:

A just for that reason we have never asked to be at a large table since our first cruise. Did that on our very first cruise and never again. Always ask for a table for 2 and have never been disappointed since.

When did you start cruising?

[c-leg5]

6 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

We have gone to the non reservation line and been seated, because  we did have a reservation  and the other line was too long. Like I said, you never know who does and who doesn't.

  

 

If there is an obvious problem with the hosts, we hedge our bets and go one in each line. Agree you shouldn’t have to do that and solo cruisers are disadvantaged.

[cruiserhal]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

 

Yeah I have a 10 day on Celebrity Beyond in April. It does worry me.

 

 

This past Spring we did a 22 night trip on the Beyond.  We never encountered any waiting for a table at the 4 main dining rooms for breakfast, lunch or dinner.   Each dining room had a lot of tables and plenty of help to wait on people.  

 

A little humor trying to understand the dining rules.  At least I found it humorous:

 

I will say that before the trip there was plenty of confusion over dining.  First our TA was told there was both regular dining and MTD.  Wrong.   Then she was told we could reserve dining times before the cruise.  Wrong.   Then we were told to reserve times when we got on the ship.  Wrong.  No reservations in any of the main 4 restaurants.   The only reservations that could be made were in the specialty restaurants.   Seems no one knew how dining worked before we got on the ship.  It all worked out OK.

 

Enjoy your trip - it is a great ship.

 

Hal 

[doghog]

3 minutes ago, cruiserhal said:

This past Spring we did a 22 night trip on the Beyond.  We never encountered any waiting for a table at the 4 main dining rooms for breakfast, lunch or dinner.   Each dining room had a lot of tables and plenty of help to wait on people.  

 

A little humor trying to understand the dining rules.  At least I found it humorous:

 

I will say that before the trip there was plenty of confusion over dining.  First our TA was told there was both regular dining and MTD.  Wrong.   Then she was told we could reserve dining times before the cruise.  Wrong.   Then we were told to reserve times when we got on the ship.  Wrong.  No reservations in any of the main 4 restaurants.   The only reservations that could be made were in the specialty restaurants.   Seems no one knew how dining worked before we got on the ship.  It all worked out OK.

 

Enjoy your trip - it is a great ship.

 

Hal 

Agree. Same experience on our March Apex cruise. I made reservations in my CP pre cruise for Select Dining, 6:PM and once onboard we were advised the reservation wasn't valid at any of the four MDRs.  Still went at 6:PM and requested the same two top each night (we decided to eat in the same MDR and order from the different menus) with no problem. All the E class ships run their four MDRs the same and it does work. The S & M class ships still do the TD and SD.