CNA Jacksonville

That's funny - the opposite happened to us! Although our switch happened before boarding. We had in our paperwork 5:30pm for early dining and about a week before we sailed, we saw it switched to 5pm in the app. Checked with our TA and lo and behold, early dining had switched to 5pm. Lots of latecomers the first night.

Happened to my son on Allure.

Not sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing with Royal sometimes ever.

Not sure the right hand knows what the left hand is doing with Royal sometimes. Never had a switch like that, but on one cruise the earlier dining was suppose to 5pm (stated when we booked and reflected in our papers). Once on board the sea pass card had it as 5:30pm. Ok no biggie. Go down the first night and the MDR manager was in a panic because only a handful of people had shown up for the whole MDR. Apparently Royal changed the early dining time to 5:30 (reflected on the seas pass card), but didn't bother to tell MDR or kitchen they switch it who were preparing everything to 5pm. Lets just say the first night the food was a little off

Checking to verify my dining request when I board is one of the things on my list of “to do”
I actually do have a list!
you can check by looking in the app-click on the person icon at the top of the page and then scroll down, or you can go to the dining room and verify your seating arrangements along with the dining time.  (Linked seating, shared table, table for 2 etc)

I haven't experienced this but have read it happening to others. The best explanation I've heard is that someone booked a specialty dinner and that bumped them out of their fixed dining and into MTD. 

We recently completed a five day Mexico cruise on Mariner of the Seas.  When we booked we specified we wanted Early Dining (5:30pm) and that was reflected in the Cruise Booklet we received.  Once on board our Sail Passes said My Time Dining.  We stopped at the MDR reception deck and asked why the change.  The attendant could not offer a good explanation, instead saying that the "system" might not be updated yet.  We politely pressed the question as to who made those changes without our consent.  Again, no good answer except that we could come back later.  He continued to keystroke when we asked to speak to someone who could provide an answer.  After a minute he asked if we would be okay with Early Dining seated with other passengers.  We said that was totally acceptable.  He wrote out a Main Dining Room reservation card and said that it would be reflected on our Sail passes.  We stopped by Guest Services and lo and behold we had our MDR Early Dining specified.
Has this happened to anyone else?  Does anyone know why these sort of dining arrangement changes are done without your approval or input?

It depends on the excursion and port obviously. Booking a 3 hour excursion will give you more time than a 6 hour one to explore on your own. Also some ports are not close to the city. The port for Rome is a good hour+ from the actual port. Lastly, some itineraries have you in ports longer than others. Some you are there for 9 hours or even overnight and a different itinerary will have you at the same port for like 6 hours. You just have to do your homework

I think that depends on your definition of "major sites" and what you mean by "see".
In Rome, if you drive by the colosseum in a bus and a tour guide tells you on the left is the colosseum. Do you consider that enough time and is it enough for you to tick the checkbox of "seen".
You can spend a week in any of the bigger cities like Rome or Barcelona and won't manage to really see all the major sites.
What a cruise is nice for is, drive by the major attractions and visit several cities and then make an informed decision on what country/city to visit next year for a land based holiday.

I'm sure someone will chime in with their actual experiences, but my thoughts:
Barcelona: I believe the ship docks in/very close to the city so there should be lots of time to explore.
Mallorca: No idea
Florence: Minimum 1+ hour from dock to the city, plus the same on the return. You would have to rush through most of the major sights to hit everything, or you just pick a couple things you want to visit in greater detail.
Rome: Minimum 45min from dock to the city, plus the same on the return. Same situation as Florence.
Personally, I think Florence and Rome are better suited to land vacations than cruise ports.

Yes, CNA. Happened to us, same ship, same itinerary last November. Arrived at the MDR at 530 (time we requested when booking), the host checked  his terminal, nothing. Asks for our cabin #, enters it and the display indicates My Time. The host said there was nothing he could do. Told us he would try to seat us at 6:45 and he created a 6:45 reservation for the balance of the cruise.
Disappointing and for whatever good it may have done, we mentioned it in the post cruise survey.
 

We have also had dining arrangements changed without our knowledge or consent.  One time especially, we were booked in a party and our dining was to be at the same table.  Nope.  And they were unable to fix it, insisting we were never booked together.   Best we/they could do is change us to MTD and we dined together a couple times. 
All the more reason I print copies, and/or take photos of our reservation documents.👍 

It happened to us on Allure in October (and several others). The MDR managers attributed it to a computer system issue (which is easily believable to me given how bad Royal's IT is).
They handled it very well. We were told to just show up at early seating and we would be given a table. So we basically wound up with MTD but at 5:15. We had different servers each night we ate in the MDR but always our own table (as requested) and never had to wait more than 5-10 minutes to be seated.

We are on the week after you, we have a excursion that takes us to a beach and a chef helps you cook a fresh fish over open fire, you have the fish, sides dishes and margarita bar plus beach time, reserved thru royal. Enjoy and save us dome fun.

Traveling to NJ to join my brother and his wife on their very first cruise.  My wife and I previously sailed on Mariner of the Seas to the Bahamas and are looking forward to Liberty and Bermuda.  Any suggestions for Bermuda?  Recommendations for places to see and things to do?

Now here is something curious... while scrolling through the various cruise ship pages now that this new pre-sail testing guidance is out, I read this on the Carnival pages:
Due to destination requirements, ALL guests on itineraries that include Bahamas, Bermuda and Grand Cayman must complete a pre-cruise test, irrespective of the length of the cruise.
Now as a Florida cruiser leaving through Port Canaveral, almost all of the RC itineraries stop in the Bahamas and they are not saying this.  I am thinking the real guidance has yet to be promulgated so stand by.
 

I sailed this ship in Greece in 2020. I did not feel that it was worn out. We had a great cruise. 
One thing that did bother us and I wouldn't sail her again because of it: the adults only section of the pool was extremely loud as it was a passage area to other parts of the ships. Also the 'adult only' part of it was ignored by some and Royal staff didn't do anything about this.
For us that was a deal breaker. Of course that might not be the case for you. 

@CNA Jacksonville You are correct that Jewel doesn't have the water slides and Flowrider. Jewel is more of the old style traditional cruising, where ships have an atrium and lots of glass with great ocean views.  If you need to be entertained with physical activities all the time, then it may not be the best ship for you.  

I personally love the Radiance-class ships like Jewel, but mostly for the more interesting itineraries they usually provide. If you prefer "ship as the destination" style cruising I would recommend looking at a different ship. 

I'll never forget the day of embarkation, at the windjammer, this older person reaching right into the chips for nachos with his hands!  I politely reminded him that the tongs were for getting food from buffet.  This other middle age man (not sure if related) to told me to mind my own business and I had told him politely that we all need to be food safe as this was not his home dinner table.  He was pissed off!  To Bad!  

... and while you're stuck, someone rudely steps in the middle of the line because they "just want that one thing" that you also are patiently waiting for! 

This is pretty much how I am while collecting from the various stations when it comes to observing my fellow passengers

Maybe for the short haul they will resort to an old fashioned cafeteria type set-up where the food is dished out by RC staff. Or maybe a limited menu that dished up and brought to your table. Time will only tell.

Not to mention the efficiency,  I can't count on both and hands and feet how many times i got stuck behind someone because they were trying to pick around and grab all the meat/shellfish out of a certain dish.

Im guessing the amount of money they save on normal helpings/servings vs some people throwing away 80% of every plate they take will be considerable.