OCSC Mike

Speaking only for Giovanni's Table (the original version), you are welcome/expected to order one pasta and one entree (I always get carbonara and a filet mignon for example). Never tried ordering multiple apps b/c it's already plenty of food. At Sabor a month ago, we must have re-ordered apps 5 times b/c our family of 8 loved them so much. We also ordered extra desserts. Sabor is more casual of course. Just ask. Worst they can do is say no but I have found my limited specialty dining experiences to be very accommodating to special requests.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise and things mostly got worked out in the end. I was following along even though I don't think I posted anything and felt awful that you had to deal with such stress. You handled it better than I could.

FWIW, my 7/15 cruise was showing “Sold out” except for one Junior Suite 15 days out. The next day, exactly 2 weeks out (could be a coincidence or not), there were a handful of rooms available in multiple categories. I was checking b/c I was hoping to switch out of my assigned GTY cabin. Then, as luck would have it, I received a winning RoyalUp e-mail for a small upgrade. So anyway, I agree with your conclusion to keep checking with RC (and don’t give up on checking the website). Hope it works out!

That was before they started charging people.

Others have done that and then been told they will be charged when they show up. I would verify it will be free if you actually plan to use them at some point.

No reason they wouldn’t. Glad it went well. Enjoy your cruise!

We take some for the heck of it just so we can get our 2 free prints as a Diamond perk... then we take them home and toss them in a drawer, rarely to be seen again.

Glad to help. I was Walgreens' biggest fan and also surprised. Don't think I was exactly calm and happy about the news when I first read about it, lol. But having prior knowledge of those 3rd party proctor sites helped and after some brief research and contacting rapidtestandtrace I returned to a better state of mind. I'm as frugal as it gets so don't think I'm happy about spending even $20pp to be tested, but it is what it is. By all means report back! Those reports are what help people learn and base their decisions on. Hope your party tests negative and you have a great cruise! *One additional note about rapidtestandtrace... I asked on live chat if my wife and I scheduled back to back appointments could we just stay on the video conference and be tested one after another even though two separate appointments are required. Their response was yes, just inform the nurse at the outset. It was the interaction like this combined with a few things I had read about OnPoint that led to me choosing rapid.

Yes you can use OnPoint or RapidTestAndTrace (amongst others). There have been many reports of each elsewhere in cyberspace. OnPoint is a bit cheaper ($14.99 vs. $20 right now) but I felt a bit better about RapidTestAndTrace after reading comments and having a live chat with Rapid. Just one man's opinion of course. Do your own research, wait for Matt to chime in, do whatever makes you feel comfortable. *NOTE: I have not used either as I don't need to test until 7/13 and previously used Walgreens.

Pants & a nice short sleeve shirt, same as most non-formal nights.

By all means, ask them. You can also find videos of pretty much every DL on every ship on YouTube. And you're very welcome. A related tip is to bring a travel mug if you drink a lot of coffee. I usually fill mine with cappuccino early every morning and take it back to our cabin to enjoy before breakfast (wife & I get up early).

It's just an assortment of pastries, muffins, croissants, yogurt parfaits, etc. Stuff you will see elsewhere on the ship but a nice quiet place to enjoy with a beverage from the coffee machine. Can also take your coffee and pastries to-go of course.

Free coffee machine in the Diamond lounge for cappuccinos, lattes, espresso, etc. One of my favorite D perks.

There are many sites you can use to take an at home test. More specific please.

The vouchers, coffee machine, happy hour snacks, internet discount, etc. are worth it to me but to each his own.

1. They moved to 3 days out (4 if you're counting today) last week. They did this once before and then went back to 7. 2. The price reported elsewhere is $128.99 and it depends on how you answer the questions. I posted that 2nd part about the q's earlier in this thread. You will know after you answer the questions if you are going to be charged or not. They are still free but not for healthy people using them solely for travel. Read between the lines.

On a related note, be aware that Walgreens now has a disclaimer stating that you MAY be charged. It has to do with how your answer the questions.

They seem to not be an issue for way way more. As I said, whatever makes one comfortable.

Everyone should choose whatever method makes them comfortable. Sorry to hear about all the issues the OP had. There have been hundreds of reports of people using Walgreens or CVS with no issues whatsoever (including my own experience) & Walgreens remains my preference. Not here to convince anyone it should or should not be theirs though.

No, the set sail pass won't open your door, but every passenger gets their own sea pass. That's how you pay for things, you scan it leaving and coming back to the ship when in port, etc. It's not just a room key.

No, it's what you use until you get your "sea pass" which is the credit card looking plastic room key. On Oasis-class it is waiting for you at your cabin (which you generally can't access until 1-2pm). I can't speak to how other ships handle this now. I'm sure someone will chime in.

Print it. You can also show it in the app (or save it to your Apple wallet if an iPhone user) if you want but many find it quicker and easier to print everything.

Would love to even be able to try to switch if they would give me my official cabin assignments for my B2B in 20 days, lol. Got a pretty crappy location for the 1st half (using the bar code trick). 2nd half is fine but no harm in checking for other options there either. Sorry, just venting. We'll have a great time no matter what. If I truly cared about my cabin I wouldn't have booked the GTY ones I did.

Yes, this was recent, late May I believe. From what I read, that's part of the reason Mariner exclusively uses Terminal 5 now. It was using both 1 and 5 for a while and that made the Terminal 1 parking garage overcrowded. It was also occasionally leaving from Terminal 1 and returning to Terminal 5, causing passengers to be shuttled back to Terminal 1 if they parked there. Sounded like a mess but things are running smoothly now. There was plenty of Terminal 1 parking for my Harmony 5/29 sailing and I expect plenty for my Indy B2B in 20 days.

Pretty sure someone reported that it was added to Terminal 5, currently used by Mariner. No clue about any other terminal as I only sail RC.