Phillo

Me Three. I was expecting to read about some new "wellbeing" offer from the onboard spa.  A real step up from having your feet checked. ?

Me Three. I was expecting to read about some new "wellbeing" offer from the onboard spa.  A real step up from having your feet checked. ?

Fixed it for you.

No, sorry. I've heard the passageway to get there is dark and messy. Some folks don't mind, but I'm not interested, personally.

I thought it was about punctuation and grammar, and was wondering why the colon gets all the attention. Maybe I want a semi-colon excursion, or one that explores the realms of the apostrophe!

To be honest....  we had low expectations.
Also... the Australian property market finally fell through its backside over the last year (we avoided the GFC downturn).  So contractors are looking for work and are quicker to get jobs done.

As for the cruise.  Well...i am a little bit excited.  On top of the cruise itself - A repositioning cruise with a LOT of sea days, my wife and I also were able to get business class airfares from Australia to Singapore to join the cruise (thanks Frequent Flyer points).  so its going to be great! ?

Me Three. I was expecting to read about some new "wellbeing" offer from the onboard spa.  A real step up from having your feet checked. ?

What do you call a thorough review of all excursions in Colon?
 
... a colonoscopy....
 

Hi @nyold, welcome to the forums!
A key thing to know about the MDR breakfast is that it's only served on sea days. And as @FionaMG noted, the hours are not very long and this makes it somewhat difficult to make it on a day when you may want to be sleeping in.
There are a couple of items on the MDR breakfast menu you won't find at the Windjammer -- things like eggs Benedict, or a bagel with smoked salmon (although you may be able to assemble one yourself in the WJ). For the most part, though, it's the same as what you'll find in the WJ.
The main reason I have for dining in the MDR at breakfast is to meet people and have some morning conversation. I will go there and request a shared table, and take my chances with who my table-mates will end up being. This worked wonderfully on my cruise on Freedom last year, and I met a number of really nice people who made breakfast really enjoyable and not just an exercise in filling my stomach. I only had one bad match-up, where my wife and I were sat with a pair of much older ladies who clearly didn't want to talk with anyone but each other.
I will note that this works best on ships with a traditional-style main dining room that has large tables. My wife and I tried this once on Anthem last year and we'll never do that again. They don't have large tables in the MDR used for breakfast (American Icon Grill), and the room itself is very crowded and hectic.
If I had to give a situation for each venue, I'd say:
MDR for a breakfast at a relaxed pace, where you have nothing specific to rush off to in the morning, and for a chance to meet some new people and have engaging conversation with your meal WJ for when you don't care about eating with anyone besides your family / travel-mates, want to be able to sit down and eat at a somewhat relaxed pace, but don't want to wait for servers to take your orders and bring the food out Smaller venues like Park Cafe, Cafe Two70 (Quantum class ships only), Cafe Promenade, etc. when you only feel like a quick bite / aren't especially hungry / need to quickly grab and go for an excursion Room service when you want a really relaxed breakfast to enjoy on your balcony with just your signifiant other / family members, or alternatively, when you need to eat super-early to get off the ship as soon as it's docked and you don't want to deal with the WJ crowds. EDIT -- Want to modify my classification of Cafe Two70 a bit. Yes, it's good for getting a quick bite away from the WJ, but it's also a really good venue for a relaxed meal in a quiet space, where you can just gaze out the massive windows and watch the ship wake, maybe see the sunrise depending on what time you get down there.

To be honest....  we had low expectations.
Also... the Australian property market finally fell through its backside over the last year (we avoided the GFC downturn).  So contractors are looking for work and are quicker to get jobs done.

As for the cruise.  Well...i am a little bit excited.  On top of the cruise itself - A repositioning cruise with a LOT of sea days, my wife and I also were able to get business class airfares from Australia to Singapore to join the cruise (thanks Frequent Flyer points).  so its going to be great! ?

I have an unusual (and somewhat first world problem) solution to our wait.
We are 108 days away from our sailing (first RC cruise too) and to be honest, its the least prepared that i will ever be for a cruise/holiday. (that said.... I am an over preparer for holidays).
My wife and I are in the middle of building a new house and whilst its under construction, we are living with my Mother In Law!!!  So the cruise was designed for us to have 2 weeks away from living at the in-laws in the middle of construction.  The problem is:  the house is going to be finished about 3 months ahead of schedule and we will be moving in BEFORE the cruise.
So i am spending my time planning our move in activities and will then use the cruise to just sleep off the hectic last few months.
In short: If you want to stand the wait for the cruise.... build a new house! hahahaha! (not the cheapest way around the situation though)

To be honest....  we had low expectations.
Also... the Australian property market finally fell through its backside over the last year (we avoided the GFC downturn).  So contractors are looking for work and are quicker to get jobs done.

As for the cruise.  Well...i am a little bit excited.  On top of the cruise itself - A repositioning cruise with a LOT of sea days, my wife and I also were able to get business class airfares from Australia to Singapore to join the cruise (thanks Frequent Flyer points).  so its going to be great! ?

Sorry, my drinks don't last long enough for me to stop and take a picture of them!
And also, those morning, (ahem) "enhanced" coffees we like to have don't photograph very well in those paper cups.
If they didn't want you to have alcohol in the morning, they wouldn't make alcoholic drinks with breakfast juices/beverages!

I have an unusual (and somewhat first world problem) solution to our wait.
We are 108 days away from our sailing (first RC cruise too) and to be honest, its the least prepared that i will ever be for a cruise/holiday. (that said.... I am an over preparer for holidays).
My wife and I are in the middle of building a new house and whilst its under construction, we are living with my Mother In Law!!!  So the cruise was designed for us to have 2 weeks away from living at the in-laws in the middle of construction.  The problem is:  the house is going to be finished about 3 months ahead of schedule and we will be moving in BEFORE the cruise.
So i am spending my time planning our move in activities and will then use the cruise to just sleep off the hectic last few months.
In short: If you want to stand the wait for the cruise.... build a new house! hahahaha! (not the cheapest way around the situation though)

This refurb seems oddly similar to Adventure of the Seas refurb... interesting that Nav and Mariner got such exquisite upgrades and Adventure and Voyager not as much...

I have an unusual (and somewhat first world problem) solution to our wait.
We are 108 days away from our sailing (first RC cruise too) and to be honest, its the least prepared that i will ever be for a cruise/holiday. (that said.... I am an over preparer for holidays).
My wife and I are in the middle of building a new house and whilst its under construction, we are living with my Mother In Law!!!  So the cruise was designed for us to have 2 weeks away from living at the in-laws in the middle of construction.  The problem is:  the house is going to be finished about 3 months ahead of schedule and we will be moving in BEFORE the cruise.
So i am spending my time planning our move in activities and will then use the cruise to just sleep off the hectic last few months.
In short: If you want to stand the wait for the cruise.... build a new house! hahahaha! (not the cheapest way around the situation though)

If you ask some people, it's anything coming out of the MDR these days.

Be careful to separate rumor from speculation from facts.  
Until the White House announces it, it's not going to happen.  Even if it did, the cruise lines lost so much money on the abrupt short notice changes they will be a lot more careful going back absent of anything that doesn't confirm another whimsical change couldn't occur a month later.  The current administration isn't very business friendly towards the cruise industry.
Even if a new administration were to allow it, the cruise industry would be cautious.  Most cruises are booked over a year in advance.  The cruise industry will always struggle with a flip flop government policy that allows it for a few years then changes it's mind with zero notice. It's challenging to build a business model when nothing is certain and the government can rip the rug out from under you tomorrow.
In the past there were grandfathering clauses that provided some stability.  Those were not offered this time where they could have been. 
Once bitten, twice shy.  

From the linked article, I found this quote rather amusing (emphasis added):
My translation of this from corporate-weasel-speak to English -- "We're stunned at all these suckers paying a crazy premium to sail the same ship as last year, just to visit a glorified water park where we can charge them even more money. Guess it's time to raise prices for Coco Cay sailings another 30%!"
? 

I've grown to like solo cruising and I'm completely over any fear of solo cruising.  You do have to pay for two since cruise fares are based on double occupancy but you get double C&A points.  This is called the single supplement.
A great benefit of solo cruising is the double C&A points.  Couples advance up the C&A ladder based on who has the higher status.  If you level up so will your husband.  
Sometimes they'll waive the single supplement like they did with some Empress and Majesty sailings in the wake of the Cuba changes. 
When you are solo in a small cabin it's very doable because it's just you so a cheap interior cabin for one can save some money.  
I found some very affordable junior suite rates on Empress and as a solo in a suite I'll get triple C&A points which I'm using to climb the C&A ladder even faster - 6 nights is 18 points, 8 nights is 24 points.  Think how long it would take to accumulate 24 points - for most people that would take three and a half 7 night cruises.  You can get there with one cruise.
I exercise caution visiting ports as a solo and I'm careful venturing around on my own.  A ship excursion is safe and it's a great way to meet other people plus you are only paying for one person.  Since I am paying for just one person I'll often do a more expensive excursion like a helicopter ride somewhere.  For two people that really adds up but for one person it's more affordable.

This group is all about encouraging booking more cruises, so it would not be too much!

but now its been consigned to us.... the commoners in Australia! ?

Had the Unlimited Dining Package on Symphony in May, if you hunt in this section you'll find my blog using it. Best I did was dinner at one specialty then late night snack at Playmakers. Just thinking of attempting two in one night was a gastric challenge. Reservations wise it was a challenge even being one of the first onboard to get desired times for some nights. Keep in mind it would have been the same issue with any other dining package or even paying in full onboard. Lunch, no issues walking in.

a little more palatable on a 10 night cruise though! ?

Thats good!!!  I just checked the price for our 14 night cruise and it comes in at AU$27 per day (or US$19.22 per day).  However.... adding an extra AU$700+ dollars to our account is not worth it at the moment.