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I will let others tackle your other questions, but I recently came across this pretty comprehensive chart on tipping so I thought I would share. There’s some instances that aren’t covered here, but it tackles the things most common to traveling. I’d imagine you don’t need to know customs for a haircut or a nail salon. The bathroom attendant one is rarely a thing anymore so don’t stress about that one. It refers to if you are in a very, very nice restaurant or hotel who would have someone who stands there and hands out towels or small toiletries. Even then, I’ve been told you only tip if you use any of the things that they hand out. I’m in my early 30s and I’ve only seen this a handful of times. I believe it used to be more common. Honestly, when in doubt do a quick google search “do you tip X” with X being the thing you are unsure about. Like “do you tip hotel check in” (no). I’ve spent my whole life here and have done that a couple of times. Our country can be very confusing when it comes to tips!!

Hi everyone!! I can't even say how much I love the live blogs between cruises so I thought I would see least try andjot some things down this trip. I have never purchased voom before but we have the 2 dogs at home and I need to get updates as I have a new sitter and a very untrained 11 month old puppy!! I'm guessing that this will be a pretty uneventful blog since I plan on spending most of my time reading in my deck chair and using that deluxe drink pkg!! We have a ton of firsts on this trip... First time in Miami and labadee, first interior cabin and most of all first time on an oasis class ship. We have done vision, Voyager and freedom class but never the big ones. I'm excited for the neighborhoods, worried about deck chairs in the solarium and on the sky deck. Our group consists of my husband on his 3rd cruise, me (on my 5th) and our 16 year old daughter (her 4th). We are headed to St Maarten (I think this is the day I stay onboard and get the hopefully empty solarium), San Juan (we will walk to El Morro and just enjoy old Town for the brief time we are docked) and labadee (can't wait!!! My first Royal beach). We have the BOGO purchased and hope to get sabor night one and 150 night 2, but I'm worried about getting in so we shall see. We also have the izumi hibachi booked and the Brazilian steakhouse (leaving the vegetarian 16 year old to fend for herself that night). We leave out if O'Hare at 530am Saturday...ugh... and will be happily in the Miami heat by 10. We went relatively cheap and are staying at the Hampton inn and suites a couple blocks away from the beach. It will be a very low key day as work and the weather have been truly kicking me in the butt this winter. Feel free to ask me questions...I will try and keep up but this may definitely be more livish than live. I may try to Periscope too but with no ? and no mike I'm nervous about even trying! And now I'm off to read the allure blog from last week!!! Jane

MIAMI:

While I’m not a Diamond member yet, I feel I have some cruising experience. Yesterday, however, I made a huge cruising mistake. I thought I’d share my mistake so others can learn from it. It would be fun to hear if anyone else has made other mistakes. We were in St. Marteen and booked Billy Bones Snorkeling charter. I’ve been talking up this tour and my family is really excited for this excursion. We walk off the ship, down the pier when I pull out my confirmation for where to go and notice the date. It says March 27th! What? That’s next week! I booked the correct day of the week but the wrong week. That week is a week after our cruise. Quick phone one call and they are fully booked. In fact all the snorkeling tours are fully booked since for the first time post hurricane there are 6 ships in port according to the several boating companies we asked. Now what? Too late to do any research on a Plan B but I do remember many people talking about the beach just off the pier. We ended up walking to Great Bay beach and turned it into a fantastic beach day. Beach chairs, lunch, trampoline, jet skis, beach massage, hair braids and a trip to the Yoda Guy. I would have thought a beach day would cost less than a snorkeling tour but my family can spend money on food and Star Wars stuff! I only put a deposit down via PayPal and I already emailed the company. I should be getting a refund of my deposit shortly. I still can’t believe I did this. While I received a confirmation months ago I didn’t actually look at it. I printed out all my cruise documents however once again didn’t actually look at it. All I can say is that things have been super stressed and crazy over the past few months. With everything on my plate, mixing up dates is one of my fears and I can’t tell you the number of times, I check school calendar against the cruise dates and triple check my airplane dates. I guess if I’m going to mess up a date, booking a refundable shore excursion a week later is not too bad. Ok that’s my cruising mistake, anyone else have one?

Embarkation: Allure is using the new Terminal A in Miami. The pickup / drop-off area is quite a nightmare. I arrived at the port about 10:30 am and it was packed with vehicles / busses / trailers / uber / lyft with nobody really knowing where to go. There is a back portion of the wraparound where the busses are supposed to go to drop / pick people up but when you get a bus with a luggage trailer on the back parking in the spots it 100% stopped anyone else from getting past them so it just created a massive bottleneck. Also none of the spots are really designated for any company in particular so its a free for all as to where you may be picked up. To make things worse there were Uber/Lyft drivers pulling into these spots making no spaces for the busses to park. Disembarkation was worse because I was actually trying to find a bus in that case. I'll comment on that in a disembarkation section. New Terminal A / Check In Process: Holy cow have they made things efficient if you have your Set Sail all completed. No more going to a desk at all, just 30 or so people ready to scan your set sail and send you to security. Literally took 2 mins to get through "checkin" and through security. The "waiting" area for those that show up before they allow you to board isn't all that organized at all. It was "Take a seat wherever" They opened the doors around 10:50 am. Their new boarding process is quite odd, they basically announce on the loud speaker "groups" to board. They called KEY first, then Pinnacle, Diamond Plus, Diamond, Emerald and Platinum all in one announcement. Because of how few there were in each group we boarded the ship quickly anyways. Onboard Specialty restaurant reservations: I had purchased the ultimate dining package for the week and immediately went up to Chops to make reservations for the week. First comment was that CHOPS and GIOVANNIS said there was 0 chance of having lunch at either of those places on embarkation day because the KEY guests were all reserved. I ended up going to Sabor which was very nice anyways. I had a sheet of paper with my preferred restaurants for each day/time and for the most part they were able to get close to what i was looking for. What was challenging though is some of the reservations did not show up on the APP at all or the TV so towards the end of the week i was making phone calls to verify times. Specialty restaurants: 150 Central Park - 3 times, Absolutely Amazing dinners - Richard was our server each time and we really enjoyed him. I made sure he was well compensated for his service he provided. If you enjoy a flavorful caesar salad, do not miss this one, it is full or garlic and anchovy slivers. Also the tenderloin for 2 was delightful, perfectly cooked, carved tableside, very impressive. Chops - 2 times - Once for lunch once for dinner - Chops just seems to be missing flavor to me. Yes they have delicious cuts of meat but it almost seems like they forget to season things there. The sauces are just missing something, but all in all good meals. Red Velvet cake is still alive and well, ignore the macaroni that escaped onto the table cloth: Giovannis - 2 times for dinner - Great meals here, enjoyed sitting outside one night and the last night having a final meal at Giovannis was a good way to end the trip Izumi - 2 times - One for Lunch, One for dinner. While I love the sushi here the service was just bad. The server was friendly and all but just couldnt get anything right. Food came out at very different times, wrong food brought, some food missing, random food on my bill, random wine on my bill i didnt drink. After this happened the 2nd time i went to the manager to express my concerns. They offered me to go to the galley brunch on the last day as a consolation. Sabor - 2 times for lunch - Their lunch menu is very limited but its great to sit outside on the boardwalk. The food is nothing to write home about (used to be much more robust, now only 3 things on the lunch menu). The Churros and Banana things for desert were pretty darn good. All in all i wish they kept things how they were in the past but i think the atmosphere makes up for it (and the margaritas) Galley Brunch - about 16 people in our group (far to many to hear anything) . I really enjoyed the tour, especially the BAKERY which i wish i had some of those machines at my house. The lunch / champagne after the tour was OK, it was standard MDR food. The champagne was flowing freely, I think i ended up with 6 glasses and felt pretty good after that. Photos from around the ship: Cafe Promenade: Someone asked if they make alcoholic coffees and the answer is YES and they are delicious: Sabor Drink Menus: Vintages Menus: Boleros Cocktail Menu:

A couple of hints on my mistakes. Never put your credit card or sea pass card in your pocket next to your cell phone. It tends to erase the magnetic coding. Take a picture of the location sign in the terminal where you parked your car. That way when you get back after a trip you can find it. That one would have saved me a couple hours wandering around the terminal clicking my key remote only to finally discover that I was in the wrong terminal.

Day 6, Curaçao. Today we visit the island of Curaçao, the weather is in and out overcast, but still plenty warm. We docked about 7:30am and the gangway was down about 8am. We are sharing the port with a Celebrity ship today We had ordered room service for delivery between 7:30-8, but by 8:05 they hadn’t shown up and we were ready to get going, so we ran up to the Windjammer for a quick bite before heading out. We booked at ATV off road tour for today, and they met us out front of the port to take us to their shop. They had a van, and several 6-seat buggy’s to transfer everyone. There were a lot of people that were booked! We were directed to a buggy with Lorenzo as our guide, and he drove the 20-minute ride to the shop. We got a good view of the ships from the bridge Once we got to the shop, everyone went to fill out paper work and pay the money after that was done, we grouped up into our different groups for the tours. Our group was originally supposed to have 8 people on it, but 4 backed out, so it was just us and another couple from the Celebrity ship, nice small personal tour! Our guide was awesome, so happy and loves what he does! Took us to a spot where we climbed up and through some lava caves and came out up on top with and awesome view Then to the “cave of doom” were we found some beautiful pink rocks in this little cave He took us to the only sand beach on the north side of the island. It’s not a tourist spot, and we had the beach to ourselves for a bit till another couple came in. Did some swimming for a little bit before heading back When we were maybe a mile away from the shop, the drive belt blew on our machine, and left us dead. Luckily he had a tow rope (which he hadn’t had to use yet) and was able to tow us the rest of the way to the shop It was an awesome tour, and would do it again in a heart beat! We headed back to the ship to shower and change (we were quite dirty from all the dust) then grabbed a lava flow from the Lime and Coconut and some El Loco Fresh for lunch Then we ventured in to town for some exploring and shopping. All the colors here are incredible! Went across the pontoon bridge We decided to come back to the ship for dinner in the MDR. On the app, the menu stated there would be buttermilk fried chicken, but it was a completely different menu when we got there. (This isn’t the first thing that the app has been different than what actually happens. They still have some work to do) I decided on the Chicken Parmigiana and my wife had her staple, a steak The service in the MDR was the best we have had thus far, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Our waiter was super attentive and on the ball We decided to hit the theater for the headliner act, a ventriloquist/comedian. He was ok, good enough that we didn’t leave, but don’t feel the need to see him again. During the show he was interrupted by an announcement for ‘alpha, alpha, alpha’, I feel bad for that person. After the show, we went to the helipad to check out the night time view Went and spent some time in the Schooner Bar listening to the great live music. It’s been the same guy every night, and he is super talented. Came back to the room to find it ready for bed, complete with a towel elephant Tomorrow is our last port day, at Aruba, then two sea days back to Miami

Thanks to the contributions of twangster and KristiZ, and the recognition that we will have 10 sea days, I took the plunge (so to speak) and got the DBP! I called RCL, as I only wanted the DBP, and my husband wanted the Voom+DBP; no way to do that on Cruise Planner, but no problem with the RCL Customer Service agent. I'm ready to start on my next DBP Exploration List . . .

Ouch! That would bring out the pirate in me.

Welcome aboard ! The only REAL mistake you can make is to not have the proper travel documents (I recommend always having a current passport). That is really the only thing that could keep you from boarding the ship. The rest of the details are far less important than you think they will be. Trust me, I've made plenty of packing omissions and somehow I have managed to have a great cruise every single time ! Probably the worst packing mistake is not having comfortable shoes. It's easy for me to say as I'm an old, fat woman BUT trying to be too cutesy can really cause great anxiety. FORGET about what looks good and bring what FEELS good. You will never see any of those people on the ship again...dress comfortably ! - especially the shoes ! You'll be fine !!! Enjoy your first cruise. You only get one <first>.

I'm on board this sailing as well so I hope its okay if I add a few extra pictures. Curcao looks lovely at night. Here's a shot of the pontoon bridge from an angle. And here's a shot of the pontoon bridge while on it. We have a late departure of 10:30pm. Most of the shopping was closed when we walked around at 7 to 8pm but most restaurants were opened. Interestingly it appears all the shops on board started to open at 7pm.

But the bottle I buy on the ship provides a stronger pour since I am the bartender :)

The news story and video clips are likely part of the process as they try to edge the settlement needle in their favor. The cruise contract has verbiage that covers taking photos and video. A cruise ship is not a public place, it's the property of the cruise line. The crew can restrict you from taking pictures or video at any time. Bottom line - it's an unfortunate accident. Accidents happen across the country every day in theme and amusement parks. The media has an odd fascination with anything that occurs on a cruise ship while often ignoring the same events occurring on land as mundane and not news worthy.

Now to finish some of the comments: Ultimate Dining Package Review: I knew going into it that there would be a ton of food and this was an understatement. As we all know the speciality restaurants can be quick (1.5 hours) or seem like an eternity (2.5 hours). Going to specialty for Lunch and Dinner consumed about 3 - 4 hours of time each day. We enjoyed the personalized service and the options but after walking up to the windjammer a few nights to "Scope" out the food we said to each other "I want to try X Y Z", one night (chocolate night) in the windjammer we just took bowls of chocolate goodness back to the room and skipped desert in the specialty restaurant. All in all I wont do ultimate again, too time consuming, you want to try to get your moneys worth by using it but then it just makes you feel overly stuffed all the time (Especially with drink package). Ports: St Maarten: I had never done this but i opted to rent a car in St Maarten. This was scary because so many of these car rental places have shady practices so i chose the HERTZ which is right at the port. They gave me what some people would call a beat up jeep (take plenty of pics before you drive off and mark up the damage report). The vehicle worked great, AC was fine and it got us around the island. Drove over to Cupecoy Beach on the west side of the island for some snorkeling and beach time. The beach was busy but we were still able to find a spot. The snorkeling was pretty decent. Then drove up to Marigot for a late lunch. Went to a place highly rated called Le Tropicana, a French restaurant and it was amazing. I had a banana crusted red snapper covered in a green curry cream sauce, most unique and interesting thing i had tasted all week. If you find yourself up in this area I highly recommend this restaurant. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Walked about 9 miles this day, not sure where all we went but it was all so pretty. Started with a breakfast at Cafeteria Mallorca, I highly recommend this place for a nice local type breakfast and not too pricey. Had some street food for lunch (beef empanadas, rabbit empanadas) Labadee: What else can you say, this is always an amazing day at the beach(es) Disembarkation: Opted to roll my big luggages off the ship. Since i was on Deck 7 and disembarkation was on 5 it ended up not being an issue. The new facial recognition scanners they use for US residents was amazing. No customs agents anymore just stand in front of a machine, it will approve you and you are on your way. From the time we scanned off the boat till we were at the fiasco in the pick area was < 5 minutes. This goes back to the Terminal A traffic / Pickup & Dropoff mess. This time i was waiting for a bus but had no idea where to wait and people were just standing around everywhere but nobody had a clue where to go. Busses with luggage trailers kept pulling in that were too long to let other busses go by so it stopped traffic 100%. The traffic control was pretty much non existent, just seemed like a free for all. Opinion of Service : Stateroom attendant: Carl was great from the day we got on the boat until we got off. He would always greet us by name, did a good job with the room and what really impressed me is when I was coming down the hallway with my hands full he would run down the hall and open the door for me. This happened at least 5 times during the trip (maybe i should stop carrying so much), but he got a nice tip of of us for the week. Speciality dining: For the most part all service was excellent except for IZUMI. Some was exceptional some was good, but this is all you can hope for. Bar Staff: Just like dining you have some bartenders who are great and some that look like they dont want to be there and they make sure you know it. Needless to say the grumpy ones do not get extra money. Additional Observations: Upon boarding they had the buy 1 drink package get one 50% off. They offered the 10 drink card on day 5 The Pub Singer was fun - Charlie Jourdan Schooner Bar singer / Piano player - Joe Thomas - ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm i did not enjoy him and based on the very few people there every night not many people did Cruise Director / Activities Manager: Fun and not overly intrusive Love and Marriage Game show was one of the best ive seen ever!!! I have all of the cruise compasses for the week that i will get scanned in and send to Matt soon for posting.

Breaking it up into multiple posts: Other Random Pics:

The waiver is not for equipment malfunction. It is Royal Caribbean responsibility to make sure all equipment work properly and safe for guests.

Nope

Welcome! We'll be on Liberty in September, and I'm excited for your first cruise experience! 1. Wrinkles - Downy Wrinkle Release. Spray the clothes and then hang them in the bathroom when someone is taking a shower so the steam can help too. 2. Packing must haves - Over the door shoe hangar. We put this over the bathroom door so it was right at the door to the cabin - easy to drop in stuff we frequently took with us (sunglasses, sunscreen, etc.) Don't forget extra sunscreen and your sunglasses. The most important thing to pack is patience - you'll be with 4000 other people trying to get to the same place at the same time. When everyone else starts acting crazy, just take a breath and remember you're on vacation. 3. Shoes - we take both. Tennis shoes for the ship and if we are only shopping in port. Water shoes for beach days because I don't like sand in my tennis shoes. 4. We have brought one of those 3 plug extender things, but our last cruise was years ago, and we didn't rely on so many electronics. I'm looking at something like this now. 5. Arrival at port - I'm an early to port kind of girl so my vacation starts as soon as possible. We usually get there between 10 and 10:30. If we have to wait I'd rather hang out at the port terminal than the hotel room anyway. 6. Carrying essentials in port - we just use a backpack that we had laying around. DH has a waterproof pouch that is worn around the neck for cash, passports, etc. Have a great time!

The official rule is 60 days however Michelle has managed to switch reservations for us that were WELL over 60 days old. You just have to get a TA who knows all the tricks !!

I will be following my fellow teachers.

Thanks for bringing up that question. My wife and I were just asking the same thing. Not sure if I’d rather have more people with the Key on our May Sailing to where Jamie’s is on offer, or less people as it means the exclusive times will be less busy at the activities.

While that's awful, I'm so so happy for you that it wasn't you guys showing up on Sunday to find it out it was a Saturday departure!

I'm an old bot. They putting all their resources and upgrades into the younger, faster and smarter bots.

LMAO. We went to Italy for 2 weeks as a family of 5. Hubby drops us all off at the curb and parks the car. 2 weeks later we return and he can't remember which aisle he parked the car. At 10 pm with a 90 min ride ahead of us, he is walking up and down every aisle with us in tow spread out in other aisles hitting the lock button on the Fob. I now not only make him take a pic, but also text me the row and number of where we parked to my phone if he loses his phone.

Ha! Before the sale, PoolsideOasis Lagoon Cabanas were running $319 (and I almost grabbed it, but I wasn't sure my sailing mates would agree to the cost) - it's now $399 during the sale. Oh, how I love a good sale ??

We are so ready for a break!!! Jane

Shows The shows are one of the best things about the ship (well, that and the activities, and the food, and the service, and the decor and the.... lol). They really are first class. Hairspray This was our first scheduled show and was really looking forward to it. My daughter and I are big theatre lovers. We made sure to line up 1hr early to get a good seat. Unfortunately they've recently added reserved seating so us little people in the standard rooms have no chance to get front row (whereas we could before), but we still were able to grab seats in 2 second row off to the side. So still had an excellent view. The show was done really well. The cast was excellent and everyone played their roll well. The set, music, production as a whole was excellent. It really was first class run. DD and I almost went a second time, but it didn't start until 9:30pm and we had an early morning excursion the next day so didn't end up going. 1977 It's one of the best ice shows I've seen on Royal. Not just the skating and the 'story', but what they do with lighting and effects to make the ice come alive. It's really impressive. As they say, don't miss the beginning as they have neat affects. Hiro Another impressive show. I'd say compared with Allure, there is less diving, but overall the show was better. The whole production was amazing and kept us engaged. The dancing, costumes, little tricks, high wire walking, etc etc. I love too how when you are watching, one minute they are "walking on water" and then next doing a high dive. You don't notice the water levels change at all. Spectacular show. This was DH's favorite. Flight This is their own production show and again, wow...done really well. It's basically the history of flight from airplanes to the moon....but in reverse. Some songs are recognized but not all. We really loved this one. For this one, don't miss the end. My daughter loved the one so much we even went a second time later in the week on standby (which was no issue getting in as it's in the huge theatre, across 2 floors). First time we sat about 8 rows back in centre. Second time we sat front row on balcony so got a different perspective (a bit on side as centre is reserved for Crown and Anchor, I think). Comedy Show They have 2 comedians that offer an adult comedy show (reserved) and then a family friendly one (not reserved) on the last night Adult - The comedians were quite funny. I could relate to the first one as a married woman. I liked the fact that the swearing wasn't over the top , and likewise with dirty jokes. It's not that I mind it, but often not necessary and excessive amounts is just not my thing. Family - Toned down comedy for kids. Some jokes repeated but still quite enjoyed (and obviously first time our kids heard them). My 13 year old was laughing outloud quite a bit. My 9 year old was mostly quiet and you could tell she didn't get a lot of the jokes. It was a great way to end the cruise and glad they included this show. iSkate 2.0 This show isn't reserved but they have a second ice show. It was well done, but more of a typical ice skating show. I'm sneaking in a post at work again...so later tonight at home, I'll post some pictures. Love & Marriage This is the first cruise where we let our kids stay in the stateroom at night and then DH could enjoy some of the shows. So DH and I went to the Love & Marriage show. This is always a blast, especially depending on the couples selected and the cruise director (We had Simeon, who was upbeat and very funny). Quite enjoyed. I love too how the funniest couple is usually the oldest couple married. Quest Another show where we didn't bring our kids. We just join a team and observe but very funny to watch. DH noted that when he went on Mariner (a time when I stayed in the stateroom with our kids while DH went out), that it was much riskier on Mariner. They seemed to tone it down on Symphony. It was quite funny though and amusing to watch. Schooner Bar Not a show, but I'm mentioning this one since I love the music there. We didn't stay long but would sometimes pick up a drink there on the way to the theatre/show, or would sit for a few minutes. My favorite music place (I guess since I usually recognize the songs).

Following!

This was posted by someone currently on the Royal Caribbean Blog Mariner Group Cruise.

@KLA, someone is channeling you again! ?

Is there actually a difference in cost between ordering a shot of Captain and ordering a Captain and Coke?

Not knowing what your preferences are makes it a little difficult to answer this question... However, if you check out the Cruise Compass section here, you can find a similar sailing on Freedom which should give you a good idea of what's out there. https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compass

And watch for (or ask, I have had them do it for me even if it's not advertised) the punch card offers once you're onboard. They make my call drink of choice (Patron and Grand Marnier rocks margarita) only ~$9 instead of $14! IMHO, the drink packages can be worth it if 1) you have a lot of sea days or 2) you can catch a big sale on the price. Otherwise, I can drink a lot of tasty things for less money overall. And trust me, the DH and I have done extensive testing and cost comparisons! Haha!

Wow...I had no idea about this one. Thanks for mentioning this.

@MeaganA if you are still confused you might want to have your TA help you out. On board the gratuities are charged per person daily to the payment method setup if not pre paid. Generally prepaid gratuities are made for all in a room but you probably could pay for only some in a room. RC isn't going to know that you are staying in different rooms than you are booked into just give your stateroom attendant a heads up though.

I feel sure that they will be able to accommodate any request you make for food for the little one....but if you want to ask ahead of time, you can write to [email protected] and ask them directly.

I like the way you think. These are the shoes for my outfit. Have a vintage (ugly) polyester shirt and brown bells to go with it. Wifey is still trying to finalize hers. i have no doubt i'll break something wearing these things but hey, thats the cost of having fun! We're on the 4/26 sailing, you too?

If you find my winning lottery ticket so I can book it too, let me know! ?

Looks like Baked Alaska!

Food Food is subjective...but here are our thoughts. Overall we thought food was excellent on Symphony. For the most part, we stuck with the same few places as we really enjoyed them. Windjammer Very good breakfast with tons of variety. Sometimes it wasn't busy at all and other times it was busy (last breakfast). But we would just first grab a seat and then go and get food in twos. I like how they have people coming around offering you drinks as that makes it easier rather than running back another time to get a coffee or juice. We really enjoyed breakfast here. We only stopped here for lunch once, and that was mostly just DS and the rest of us grabbed food from El Loco Fresh next door. I'll say that I'm not a huge fan of Windjammer for lunch as I'm a sandwich person and it's mostly hot items, but the one on Symphony looked pretty good with tons of options. I even took a few sides to add to my El Loco Fresh meal. After our Costa Maya day, we stopped in for a snack (which was lunch hours). Again, great variety of desserts and all pretty good. Solarium Bistro We would rotate breakfast with here and Windjammer. On Allure, the Solarium was more obvious of offering healthier choices, but I think on Symphony it was the same food items. The atmosphere is nice though...esp if you can get a seat by that beautiful statue. They have some outdoor seating but I'm pretty sure that is the adults only section. Again, pastries, eggs, various yogurts, cereals, oatmeal, fruits, pancakes, waffles, sausages, bacon, cheese, lox, non greasy muffins, various potatoes and hash browns, etc etc. MDR Great experience at the MDR. We had lunch here twice on the sea days. Love the Tutti salad bar. You can add in the items that you want and then the dressing. Really good and healthy (or not healthy depending on what you add). Then they have a good size buffet. One thing I'm surprised with is that Royal offers burgers at the buffets but no veggie burgers. But at the MDR buffet, they had fish burgers which was nice to see. For dinner, first I"ll start with our servers. Our waiter and assistant waiter were lovely. Attentive, friendly, did a couple magic tricks with our kids to keep them entertained. And they went at a good speed. On Mariner, we had traditional dining with 2 other families. Meals were great but dinner went from 6-8pm. Nice to talk with the families but they were a bit long. We had traditional dining here, and maybe it went quicker since were at a table with just us, but our dinners started at 5:30pm (wish it was 6pm) and we were usually done by 7pm or 7:15pm...so a pretty good pace. For the food, it was very good. Most days I had the caesar salad and escargot as an appetizer. Yum. The salad was much tastier than Mariner (guess more dressing). My DD had French Onion soup every night. She loved that. DH varied his appetizer. And DS realized that if he had an appetizer and bread that he got too full for dessert. So he then made a plan to skip appetizers so he could eat his whole dessert. Smart boy! The best meals were the pasta meals and risotto (and I"m not a rice eater). Lobster night was also really good. DH had the famous lamb shank. He said it was good for the MDR but he's had better. Overall though, really good experience. PS - We brought our own wine and were never charged a corkage fee. El Loco Fresh Wasn't expecting much but the plain cheese quesadilla was excellent. Was a bit disappointed that they only had meat enchiladas (as I eat fish and seafood but not beef or chicken), but I didn't go hungry. They also had an amazing chocolate dulce de leche. Cafe Promenade/Sorrentos We went here first day and I think another day or so for snacks, meal. Pretty standard for Royal but good idea for light bite. DH tried the pizza and said it was a big improvement over Allure a few years ago. My only regret is that when I went, they had no coconut ranger cookies. Boo...I missed these. (Apparently it was bad timing as DH said he saw them on other days) Park Cafe This is my one miss. One one day we walked though it but nothing appealed to my 9 year old so we left. I thought of getting something to go but wasn't sure where we'd end up so didn't take anything (and since we went to MDR, that wouldn't have worked anyways). Loved it on Allure so was sorry we never actually ate here. It looked good though. Jamie's First time trying this restaurant and as pleasantly surprised. It was really good. We shared a bunch of appetizers...rice balls, garlic bread, crab bruschetta, olives. For meal, DD had the spaghetti. She didn't eat much as she didn't love it. You can't really mess up spaghetti, but she's not one to like sauce. DS had the burger that was really good. DH and I shared two meals...the salmon, which was really well done, and the truffle pasta that was exellent. Dessert was really good. Decadent brownies for the kids. Pavlova for DH, which he said was really good. And I had the lemon cheesecake. yum! Chops This is the restaurant we were most looking forward to, and the one we were most disappointed about. It was amazing on Mariner, and on Symphony, the food was more bland. Not sure if this was due to place being quite busy, or just different chefs. DH, DD and DS all had the steak, and DH had to add salt/pepper to it, which isn't right. My shrimp was good, but not as tasty on Mariner. Dessert though was really good, and they had the red velvet cake which DH was happy about. Will post a bunch of food pictures shortly.

You would be charged the $2 overage plus the gratuity on the overage.

Geez. Now I'll never get into the "been on all the ships" club.

I wish they would release a schedule for Perfect G'day. Apologize in advance for that play on words.

Michelle Cunningham with MEI is the best!?She has been very helpful/friendly! She is always quick to reply to e-mails and answer phone calls. ? She saved us money and we got onboard credits!? We will definitely use her again!?

2 bits, 4 bits 6 bits a dollar.....all for Michelle, jump up and HOLLER! Sorry, couldn't help doing that, but, she is great!

I squealed like a little girl watching those videos of just how interesting it is to see something you never get a chance to see, even on behind the scenes tours you dont see these things.

Thank YOU!!!! She's our Happy Place ..... Does she have all the bells & whistles of the newer ships? Nope, but in our eyes, that's a good thing ...... it's just the two of us, so, the fewer kids, the better in terms of our ability to just relax.

Cabin Tour! ”When I fall in love, it will be forever...” There are 2 Star Loft suites on Oasis class ships. The configuration is different in both. One faces the flow rider and mini golf area, we have 1722 which faces the water. Lower Level: Lower level bathroom: Upper floor: Balcony: Room scope: https://www.pscp.tv/w/b1XXsTF4TlFhYVJPT2V3UWJ8MU93eFdPVlhEZE54UW6KePUSABc-SqHnaAMuOPVLCaK1YASRNRVD9Sl0ONVs

Yes, you can order as much as you like. If you have a drink package, then as long as the wine is less than the drink package threshold ($12 or $13, depending on the ship) per glass then there is no additional charge. Else, you pay the difference. If you do not have a drink package, then you pay for what you order. There is a menu, but they have a full bar so you can order whatever. I assume you mean with the drink package. Your only limit, per se, is with which wines per glass come in under the drink package allowance. Yes, same answer as for the MDR. For Oasis and Quantum Class, it's $13. The rest of the fleet is $12.

I did a balcony guarantee on Anthem and the cabin was assigned 5 months out...so there is no set time for when they are assigned. Second, and from what I've heard from a good source (Michael Poole), when your cabin is assigned, you can call Royal and ask to be switched to another location in the same category. I haven't tried it yet but I've been told it can be done. I for one don't mind Royal picking the cabin for me as long as it's a good savings, and I'm not looking at a lifeboat.