accio7

Please add: January 13th, 2024 - Symphony of the Seas 

... and to add to @OCSC Mike's comment, IF the ship serves Starbucks products in a cafe onboard (eg. Cafe Promenade on Wonder OTS), it is included in both the Refreshment and Deluxe Beverage packages! I also noticed folks using their Cafe Select coffee drink cards there as well.
As an example, Wonder has a Starbucks "kiosk" AND sells Starbucks products in the Cafe Promenade...
Kiosk... more options and will accept your Starbucks gift cards, but none of the drink packages...

 
Cafe Promenade menu... accepts beverage packages and cafe select coffee drink cards, but not Starbucks gift cards... we took full advantage of our drink package!

Unofficial answer, NTAH.  It's ok to joke.  Official answer you are the AH because your wife said so.

I've evolved to finishing off the open bottle of wine instead of beer with my cold pizza.

Cold stale pizza and warm stale beer - Sunday breakfast for many a college student.

The more people who mention getting up at 5am and earlier, the more I'm going to stop considering myself an early riser, lol.
If you get up a bit earlier you can get some Sorrento's before they close at 3am (on some ships). 🤣

I was just going to point out that only sailings from the USA get a lobster night. 

We ate twice in the MDR on our Harmony sailing last week.  Lamb Kofta was was amazingly good, asked for 1/2 portion more.  The Asian Pork Bao Tacos were superb as well.  I liked the swiftness of the MDR and what we had was overall really good. 

since the restart the food seems to differ significantly between ships. i like the new menu. Caribbean night was really great on my cruise last month. one of the best things with the new themed menus is the windjammer serves the same food so if you don't feel like the MDR just head to the buffet. 

Just an update
We disembarked from our Ovation to Alaska on May 19th and overall the cruise was FANTASTIC!!  We had such great weather from our 2 days prior in Vancouver and 1 day post cruise in Seattle.  The only time we saw a little rain was in Sitka.  We were so lucky to have that kind of weather.  
As for the WJ and MDR food..well I would say WJ was about a 6.5, some foods were quite good and some were really bad.  Our first day for lunch was not good at all with cold burgers, soupy mac and cheese, and stale hard hamburger buns.  A few other items for lunch were bad too.  The rest of the cruise was hit or miss for the WJ.  We liked the Mediterranean food in the Solarium Bistro.  Went to the MDR 3 times and really enjoyed our meals.  They were definitely more fresh, tasty and hot compared to WJ.  
And since we are on the Ben and David topic who are one of our favorite YouTubers...the day before the cruise my girlfriend and I were at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park in Vancouver.  We almost didn't make it there out of debating if it would be worth it.  As I was looking out into the wonder of nature I hear her say, "oh my god we love you guys!"  And there they were, Ben and David.  I just couldn't believe my eyes!  We might cruise at the most twice a year and never thought we would run into them.  They had just gotten off with Stef from their 16 day NCL Spirit from Hawaii.  We had such a great conversation and must have chatted with them for about a half an hour.  I brought up the Symphony MDR experience and asked if Royal had contacted them.  You all guessed it, the answer was NO.  Anyhow, I wish we had taken a picture with them but didn't want to be a bother.  
Meeting them was one of the many highlights of this trip, and next to our first time sailing to the Caribbean out of New Orleans in 2017, it's probably the best out of 9 cruises we've taken, and our best vacation so far!

On Odyssey in Jan, we had our first experience with the new menu. For me it was an overall positive experience. I purposely tried some things I'd never had before like Indian dishes and liked some and not others. Can't say I recall any issues with food temperatures but I tend to like my meals warm not hot. Like @BrianB we eat at 5:30 and had no issues with service. Ben and David had a late seating and I do wonder if that has a negative effect overall. Staff start to get tired, food my sit around for awhile.  On Wonder in March, got to see Matt!, we had the UDP and I did feel some of our meals were not up to par. But again I had ordered out of my comfort zone. My son and I are doing a B2B on Harmony starting May 20th so I'll get another shot at evaluating the new menu.

I saw their video.
My experience with the new MDR menu is quite different. In fact I used to get the specialty dining package and eat the rest of my dinners in the CK. But now, I only get a Chops dinner and the rest is in the MDR.
There could be many reasons for this…including…
All of my cruises since the new menus have been on the Anthem. 
I travel solo, and sit at my own table, so no worry about group service. 
I do early dining at 5:30 and I’m usually one of the first to be served.
I have found the service to be excellent. Every set of waiters/assistants have been very good at making the substitutions I want, and the timing of my meal courses has been just as I expected.
My food has been delicious. But…I’m not really a food ‘connoisseur’ and I’m pretty easily satisfied.
In particular…I love hot soup and have been very impressed with the flavor and the temperature. My meals have been tasty…fresh, hot, and very nicely plated. I never had any reason to send anything back. I think the portions are perfect for me.
The only concern that I have is with the dessert. They are too delicious and I can not avoid them. Thank goodness for the treadmills.

I have no idea who that is, but I witnessed MDR with my own eyes and stomach and it was just fine.

@DonR you have some options in regard to dining.  You can get seating alone (normally at a two-top table), or you can ask to be placed at a large table with other people.  On day 1, go to the MDR and talk to them about what you would like in regard to your dining choices. When I dine in the MDR, I like the two-top option because I tend to be a bit overwhelmed by large groups.  More often than not I end up chatting with the diners at the tables around me.  

I always request traditional dining. Once I had my own 2-top right by the railing, very nice. Another time I was seated at a table of single women and did not really enjoy that after the first couple of nights. The 3rd time I had traditional dining booked, but they switched me to My Time Dining without asking. I found that pretty stressful - the lines of people waiting for tables - but was always seated by myself. 
I have another solo sailing next week. I emailed rccl dining and made my request to keep my traditional dining time and be seated at a 2-top. I got both an automatic response and a personal response that my request was being forwarded to the ship, so we will see what happens!
 
PS - Love sailing solo - have fun!!!

Hope you’re having a great time onboard! 

Hope you’re having a great time onboard! 

Please add: January 13th, 2024 - Symphony of the Seas 

Congrats! I've done Vegas many times solo and just finished my 3rd solo cruise and absolutely love them. One of the things I realized early on is that no one is staring at you and judging you. In fact, many people are envious of you for daring to sail solo. The only time I felt slightly awkward was eating in the main dining room. I prefer to just hit the Windjammer for dinner so I can be in and out and on to do what *I* want to do next. 

Yeah turning 50 don't have a choice in that, however the way to celebrate it is another mather. Choose to celebrate it with making new friends instead of organizing a party where a lot of people come, i havent seen in years, no this way i spend it on myself and have a full vacation of fun instead of one day:)
I love cruising never did a solo one before, and if you go with peeople or in a group, mostly you keep with the group instead of realy connecting with new people.

I don't recommend it. And don't even get me started on 55. LOL.

Planning to go on a holliday cruise 2025 to 2026 solo celebrating new year on the ship, will prob also be an interior room also cause of the prizes as a solo traveller.
The date is than also special cause in 2026 i will turn 50 and i choose to go alone to meet new people, normaly i go with friends or family but that one is meant for me to go alone. Love that you can confirm my choice that its a great idea. For me its at the moment waiting that the named cruises get on the website and ill be able to book, meanwhile i'm waiting for my greek isles cruise leaving in 7 days, but this one is with family group of 6.

Go cruising or dodge hurricanes?

Been awhile since I've been around, but I wanted to share some thoughts.
In October of last year I took a spur of the moment (get away from real life) last minute cruise on my own.  Was a three night simple trip on Independence, only plans were for an inside cabin room and the deluxe beverage package, no excursions were planned or other frills.  And I wanted to come here and say that I LOVED every moment of this trip!  It was liberating and exactly what I needed to get away from some stress.
I had more fun on this trip than the six nighter that I just went on that July when I was with someone.  I got to meet so many more people, have a bunch of fun and random conversations with strangers, ALL of them friendly and having a great time.  I'm not the most outgoing person and this was still very easy to do. 
While sharing a trip with someone and making memories is a great thing, I did enjoy my time alone not having to worry about what another person wanted to do.  The only time it felt a little odd was when it was time to eat, but even then, if you wanted to strike up a conversation in the main dining room, or at a place like Playmakers, it was super easy.
So if you are on the fence about traveling alone on a cruise, be brave and go for it!  You only live once, so why not be adventurous

I'm abstaining as I don't have many positives to add and don't want to be overly negative, lol.