LetsTryThisPlace

On 3/19/2018 at 9:57 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

How come nobody ever offers me a banana split ? 

I agree why is this not on the adult's menu, what we can't like banana splits?

On 3/19/2018 at 5:40 PM, rjac said:

We have the traditional dining at 5:30 scheduled for our Allure cruise April1-8. On Weds, April 4th, we will be on a beach excursion that does not get back to the ship until 4:30 and that does not give my wife, daughter and grand daughter enough time to "clean up and "pretty up". I'mm sure the ladies her will agree to that! 

So, is it possible to schedule a MTD seating at 6:30 that night and that night only for 6 folks?  April 4th is my birthday and my daughter & grands so want to embarrass me with the waiters singing "happy birthday" to me. I hate to tell her that I will not be embarrassed one bit as I will have exercised my drink package VERY heavily that day! Now, if I get a lap dance from one of the Waite staff, then I'll be embarrassed! 

While on Freedom I did ask this question and the answer was no it wouldn't be possible. They told me you may have better luck getting a spot at the next seating but you must stay where you are. If you went on day 1 to explain your situation it might be better and they can sort something out but not guaranteed. I agree with above a speciality restaurant may be a better option. I am actually surprised they don't use birthdays as a way to get people into them (on slower itineraries). Like oh by the way (since not many reservations) we are giving a discount to anyone with birthdays to come to a speciality restaurant (they could discount one and charge full for the others and people like when they get deals so might encourage more people when they are low on reservations. 

I must say being there 3 weeks ago they have come a long way. Still not 100% but very close. Some older buildings (not to modern codes) are beyond repair and being torn down but this was a very small amount. I actually noticed worse conditions on the French side than the dutch. We did a full ATV tour that circled the entire island and was a great experience. 

I haven't been on the bigger ships so haven't had the other newer food options but,

1 Giovanni's 

2 Sabor

3 Chops

(Totally forgot about Johnny Rockets and never even walked past it lol)

I actually wasn't a fan of chops it was alright but even MDR was better to us (maybe an off day) but Giovanni's was amazing. We also did the murder mystery which if you can you should do. Sabor was also really good. If you go they say 1 entree each but we got 3 for the 2 of us so don't be afraid to ask. 

On 3/22/2018 at 8:10 AM, KLAconQueso said:

(and they'll go out of their way if there is some kind of food allergy or restriction such as being a vegetarian to make it work)

I actually didn't really have a great experience with my allergies at chops on Freedom was really disappointed that I got better service everywhere else. 

On 3/20/2018 at 6:59 AM, Donnamat said:

Freedom of the Seas next month

Side note: which itinerary are you doing?

We are currently booked with MSC Bellissima for the Mediterranean. We went with them as they were WAY cheaper and a MUCH better itinerary. I love Royal but sometimes we have to cheat a little when they can't match. I do have the Baltic on my bucket list maybe for 2021. 

On 3/22/2018 at 5:45 AM, Diane.M said:

I have decided to keep MTD. :) I think I made the right choice to begin with.  LOL  I  can reserve the same time if I want or if I need to be late I can schedule late.  Thanks everyone!!!

You also can make MTD more traditional if you want the experience. We shared a table with another couple one night to try it out. Just tell the staff if you are okay with sharing a table and they will let someone join you if they wish. Also if you like a certain waiter you can request them to be assigned to you so each time you go your reservation will be with the same waiter. This creates the same feel as the set time but with the flexibility of MTD. My wife and I rarely eat at the same time, especially with different excursions or departure times. I rather miss my normal time and still be in the MDR (main dining room) at a later time than I miss my time and then have to eat at the WJ (windjammer [buffee]) or speciality restaurant. 

On 3/22/2018 at 11:11 PM, mom2mybugs said:

You are going to love freedom Joe.   I'm the same way and I will be on my 4th in 4 days....my family is ready to strangle me (until they enjoy all the reservations and things I planned...nachi, chefs table etc... with this blog's help! )  Freedom here I come!   Jane

Freedom has given me the approval from my wife for more cruising. She was very disappointed on our Norwegian cruise that it was a hard push for me to get one more shot. It was a great cruise and great food. So far out of the 3 I've been on, its been the best yet. We are planning to go on her again in 2020. 

On 3/22/2018 at 2:12 PM, toodle68 said:

Main Dinning Room on disembarkation day for the win!

I agree with this, most people go to WJ and it is a madhouse, we were at the MDR on Freedom and it was pretty much dead. We had the 2 waiters there the whole time and was much easier then trying to fight people. We also left everything in our room so we could eat and just went back to the room to grab everything before we left. We didn't have anywhere important to be so we kind just took our time and tried not to rush leaving lol. Now only if it was as easy to get off the ship as it was to get on lol.

@twangster I think has done this. I have to try and peak at my cruise compass from Freedom to check.

It could be something to do with the system. They most likely are only putting a note that may get missed. If you are doing My Time Dining then it would be easier to get a table for 2 as they would have more available. If you are wanting it so you have the same waiter you can ask to have the same waiter each time. I would assume the table for 2 in the traditional dining room will be assigned on a first come first serve basis. 

Thank you :) found it and now I'm more travel like 

Firstly, how the heck do you change your name? I need to change mine to the right one, not sure why I used my tech name, not my travel name (its the same just place instead of tech). Which also goes pairs to my blog and now most other sites. I wish FB was better about being private as everywhere you go there everyone has your name. I'm sure it's not hard to put 2 and 2 together to who I am. I mean how many people named Josh talk about cruising in Cayman. 

4 hours ago, Orange Crush said:

I guarantee you that they merged, migrated and restructured databases on the back end and there's no practical way to walk it all back to the old data structures while preserving everything that has been booked or changed since the rollout.  So it's damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead.

Ya at this point it's too late. It was when they crashed it at the beginning when people couldn't even book that we wonder why they didn't roll back fix and rerelease. They could have used a patch to use the new databases but on the old system. There is bad code somewhere they just need to find it. That or they need better hardware if that's the cause (which I doubt).

I heard that the way this works is they send it to the whole category and they call once in order of acceptance to whoever takes it first. So if you take too long to accept then chances are you won't get it. Don't know for sure just from what I have seen on social media (and we all know how that is)

Also one thing that I did with Sandra's dress (I did all the packing) was fold it nicely (follow seams for folds ext.) and put it in a vacuum seal bag. make sure it is packed so nothing else creases it or it may get wrinkles but worked well for us and nothing we had was wrinkled. Also for my suite, I again following seams and natural angles folded it and put it at the bottom of my suitcase (often times they flip them on their belly's) and strapped it down so it wouldn't move. All came out perfect.

14 hours ago, Traveler said:

Dose it meant RCL decided to abounded anything smaller than Voyager and focus only  the big ports ?

I don't think so, this list is just talking about improvements in the Amplified project. This would be separate from the regular referbs the other ships typically get. I don't think they will be getting anything big but should get some work done.

They are starting to come back and rebuild now. Many places are open with temporary solutions such as shipping container bars or stores that are under a tent at the beach. We also went on a 3rd party tour (ATVing and I would highly recommend it, we had a great time with great guides you can see it in my Freedom of the Seas Live blog from a couple weeks ago.) and we saw most of the island and one side was definitely worse than the other. I did notice many resorts having some people in them now even though you could tell they weren't back to 100%. There are some older buildings that wouldn't be under the newer codes that have been destroyed beyond repair (we had the same here in Grand Cayman and 1 building still sits half demolished.) but it does seem like those do plan to be rebuilt from the construction we saw. I think living wise they are now at a point where they have figured things out, insurance is probably coming in now and it seems like the construction industry is thriving as everywhere was busy and no one was sitting around (in the construction areas), we had similar experience here in 2004 (Hurricane Ivan). 

On 3/13/2018 at 11:38 AM, mbk999 said:

I agree with this statement, speculation or not.  Not that the smaller ships aren't nice or don't have their charms (and they were our introduction) but if you're new to cruising and see all the advertisements showing zip lining, I-Fly, ice skating, water shows, and then you get on a ship w/o any of those, it might feel a little like a bait and switch.  Granted it's still incumbent on people to understand what ship they are going on but people are people.   Providing them with a similar experience to the week long vacations would be a good strategy to hook people in (imo).  

And a combo Disney/Universal and short cruise is a great vacation, preferably the cruise at the end.

Heck even if you knew it didn't have these you may get on board and realize you wish it had them. When we were on NCL after my family talked up cruising to my wife, we both ended up very disappointed because of the fact that nothing was as expected. I'm lucky she gave me another shot and I think she's happy she tried again as the last one was great. I am not someone into the too small and older ships, I think Mariner (or maybe her sister ships) would be the smallest I would ever go, but at the same time, I'm not sure I'm ready for Oasis quite yet. 

Also, the prices and perks are not that great. I had found a better deal (we literally were online while the guy was looking it up) online and he said they could price match (not sure exactly how true that statement was as we weren't ready to book quite yet). Others may have a better experience though.

I would need to add an extra safety strap around the phone because my OCD would make me still worry. My mind would come up with something like what if it slips out of the case or something like that lol. But great idea!

On 3/13/2018 at 3:24 PM, Pooch said:

Hmm, if we get a couple of free drinks each per night, might make more sense to buy the refreshment package & pay out of pocket for anything else.

I mixed this with the 2 bottles of wine I could bring + I didn't have any free drinks for suite or Diamond but I didn't spend more than $100 on extra drinks. If you do get the refreshment package if you have a good bartender they will only charge you for the shot. I did have some good and some not good bartenders so it is a risk in that aspect.

49 minutes ago, coneyraven said:

Not sure what's going on there ..... I know Lady G was just in Drydock last year so it's possible she, and the other Vision Class ships will be upgraded later on......

Also looking at the pdf it sounds like these are more big changes and are more of the things you expect on the bigger ships. Think of the upgrades Mariner will be getting and I'm sure similar upgrades will be going to the ships listed. Now it is not to say the others won't have anything done just not any of the "amplified" program. 

Quote

What is the objective of Royal AmplifiedSM? Our objective is to develop innovative attractions, pools, bars, and dining that provide your clients the most adventurous, thrilling, fun and recharging vacation experience – one that is truly reflective of the most incredible fleet in the world, only with Royal Caribbean®.

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I wonder when Freedom will be going in for the upgrade. We are planning to go on her again March 2020 and it would be nice if she gets the upgrade just before that. I may have to play with dates and find out what dates it's not sailing.

I am not sure about rentals but I did see something while walking around. I also saw a store that sold some near the entrance and they didn't seem too overly priced. If you have the room for them, it would probably be the same price to buy some at Walmart than it would be rent them and if you did decide to get off somewhere else and go to a beach then you have them there too.

@monctonguy I could see a situation where this would be beneficial though. Think to drop off your luggage and then going back out for a bit to explore. This may not be common in places like Miami or Ft. Lauderdale but maybe Alaska or San Juan.