S0nny

Our group of 6 expanded to a group of 10 during parts of our cruise on Empress of the Seas (Nov 2018). They had a table large enough to accommodate us on the smallest ship in the fleet (AND we had My Time Dining). 
I suspect you shouldn't run into any problems following the advice given already. One add on, if you DON'T get what you're looking for, don't be discouraged. Just call the MDR from 1pm-7pm and see if they have cancellations and can accommodate your crew! People cancel all the time (or in our case, the group had reserved the table every night, but never showed up)

We have always had excellent service in the food department. A friend brought his son onboard who was a picky eater. They made him his favorite meal (spaghetti) every night even though it wasn't on the menu. When the waiter noticed I wasn't interested in the entrees listed he asked me what my favorite cuisine is (Indian), and I was surprised when he brought me a plate! And if something arrives cold, I would never hesitate to send something back (politely). We sprung for Chops Grille on Empress in 2018, and the crab legs (or lobster... I cannot recall) arrived undercooked. They brought out an entirely new tray. 

Good choice! I suspect you won't regret it. We have always done MTD and have loved it regardless if we were a couple or a group of 10!

Great advice! What's nice about this response is if you don't like their answer, you can call again on a different day and hope for leniency. On the cruise ship, if you don't like their response, you will not get so lucky to have an exemption. 

Ooops... and this is why I should read ALL the comments before posting ?
I suppose it's just positive reinforcement!

lol
I love this! Your blog was awesome! Thanks for the detail AND the musical theater humor!

As someone in the medical field, I can highly recommend that you rapidly book two more cruises and post in the morning!!!  That is exactly what helps my post cruise blues!!!?

My daughter auditioned in general dancer auditions a few weeks ago.. she made it through to the end, where they then took her resume, headshot, body measurements, etc. Now waiting to hear if she will be offered a contract for any shows. Fingers crossed!

Day 7 – Labadee
We took advantage of our later port arrival to sleep in a bit. Where in my case, by "sleep in" I mean I naturally woke up at 7 instead of having an alarm jarring me awake at 6. Following my now daily ritual for port days, I went onto the balcony after grabbing my phone and lenses to see what was in view. I thought maybe that Royal had actually routed us to Isla Nublar this time, and instead of lounging in a cabana I'd be running from T-Rexes.

 
But after about a half hour, it clear that this was no dino-topia...

 
Especially not after spying the tiny rowboat making its way past us...

 
When we had gotten close enough, the ship started turning around to actually dock, and I could see the pier and village of Labadee ahead of us.

 
I had my YOLO shirt from RCBlog on, so I kept it all in stride... (#RCBlog_Supporter, #Chillin, #Mellow)

 
Everyone else was up at this point, and we did need to get to breakfast before my wife and the girls had to get to their scheduled zip line run. So we headed down and once again just took advantage of the "cereal bar" in the MDR to have a quick meal without the Windjammer crowds. This time around, we got to the MDR a little late and had to share a table. Our table-mates were two elderly ladies who had no plans for Labadee, having "outgrown that stuff some time ago."
After breakfast, we did the usual trip back to the cabins to sunscreen up and get ready to head out. Unlike the other times, we had a persistent wood block tapping coming in through our balcony windows. We quickly realized it was from the little band that had set up on the pier. With the window closed, the only thing we could hear was that wood block; after opening the balcony door we could hear the whole group, which was a lot less irritating for us.
We ended up being a little too leisurely with getting up and ready, and found ourselves hurrying down the pier so all the ladies didn't miss their check-in time for the zip line. After we found where they had to go, I took  their bags and made my way to Nellie's Bach and the cabana check-in desk there. I did have to ask a couple of times for how to get there and where to go, but I eventually got there and was checked in. I let them know that not only would my family be there, but we had also invited our table-mates and they should be expected later in the morning.
Our attendant was a man named Fritz, and he led me to our cabin, which was the next-to-last one down the line. I had a chance later in the day to confirm that at least for these cabanas, they are not reserved based on when you booked, just on when you show up to claim one. So the earlier you get there, the better the cabana you'll be given as far as its position in the line and the view you get. Ours was definitely not at all shabby...

 
After putting everyone's bags down in our cabana and taking the pics above, I went out and found Fritz, and asked him to please call one of the golf carts for me so I could go and ride the Dragon's Tail coaster before the lines had a chance to build up. It took about ten minutes for a cart to show up, but that was fine; I wasn't in any hurry at that point. Once it arrived, I was quickly whisked to the check-in desk for the coaster, where I filled out my waiver and got my all-day wrist band. While walking the short distance from there to the actual ride entrance, I was surprised to see a wild dog come into view. It was somewhat timid and didn't let me get too close, but I was still able to get a shot.

I rode the coaster a total of four times over the span of about 45 minutes. I recorded every one of them, but I haven't yet reviewed them and decided which is best to share. Two of the times I went fairly slowly; the second time was a little too slow, as I had applied the brake for so long that I almost stopped dead on the track about half-way through! The other two times I went as fast as I was comfortable with while holding my phone (braced in the ShoulderPod grip) in one hand, and using the brake with the other. It was still plenty fast for me, and I definitely had a blast, as well as getting my money's worth out of my all-day pass. I'll try and get one of those videos up on YouTube to share here this weekend.
By this point it was noon, and I was ready to go back to the cabana. The people at the coaster couldn't hail one for me, so I wandered over to the beach bed checkin spot on Adrenaline Beach and asked if they could do it. They could indeed, and paged someone over the walkie-talkies they had there. While I waited for my ride, I attempted to speak to them in French, dredging up what I could remember of my high-school classes to fumble out a basic conversation (prefaced with me letting them know in French that I honestly didn't speak it well but was hoping to have a little chance to practice). They were pretty patient with me and fell back to English when it was clear I just didn't understand / couldn't translate quickly enough what they were saying to me. But it did come back to me to a surprising degree, and I even understood when they said in French that their Creole language was much easier to learn since it didn't have all the grammatical rules and other complications that "regular" French has. They explained that they all had to learn both French and English in school, so they were at least conversant in all three, if not 100% fluent.
By this time my golf cart had arrived. I thanked the gents I'd been speaking with for the conversation, and then hopped on to go back to my cabana. I got there to find that my wife, the girls, and our table-mates were all there. Everyone who'd been on the zip line absolutely loved it, and none of them found themselves scared all that much. They also said the jolt at the end wasn't as bad as the videos we'd watched beforehand made it look, so maybe the next time we're in Labadee I'll give it a try. They wanted to take video and made sure they had hand straps for their phones, but they were told that only head-mounted GoPros were being allowed since everyone had to hold on to the zipline bars with two hands.
Now I was thirsty at this point, and Fritz had just showed up to deliver some drinks for Debbi and Matthew;. I didn't hesitate, and ordered my first Labadoozie of the day (with alcohol, natch). D14 already had a drink in a hollowed-out pineapple that she bought with her OBC, and my wife and D17 were just drinking the Evian that came with our cabana, so I was the only one left empty-handed. Fritz came back in short order, and I tried it out.

As you can see, I totally hated it. 
After I had a chance to properly sample my beverage, we asked Fritz to call up another golf cart so we could grab some food from the buffet. Our driver was great, staying nearby so that we could grab what we wanted and then eat it back in the cabana without having to hoof it all the way there. The food was just OK for me, but I'm not a big barbecue fan; everyone else thought it was great.
With lunch out of the way, the girls and my wife went to the Dragon's Tail coaster to try and get a couple of rides in. While they were off doing that, Debbi, Matt, and I went into the lagoon and enjoyed the water. It was very odd after a while; we all kept feeling cold patches going by while we stood there, so the water alternated between feeling nice and warm and feeling freezing cold. I eventually got out and decided to take another time-lapse while I warmed back up.
Wade made another visit and gave his seal of approval...

 
The ladies came back by this point, having only been  able to get in a couple of rides on the coaster due to the long lines that had formed. Lesson learned -- ride the coaster early if you have an all-day pass, or you won't get nearly as much of your money's worth!
The two girls and Matthew then went to the village to find some trinkets to buy. We adults just hung around in the cabana and enjoyed the lazy day, chatting and relaxing. I had another couple of Labadoozies, because why not?
D17 came back from the village feeling robbed. She tried to haggle, didn't know how to properly do it, and ended up paying the full $25 asked for the two necklaces she wanted. D14 did a bit better, getting a carved bird for $12 (original asking price $20). Matthew was an old hand at this, and got 6 necklaces / bracelets for $4 each. The girls decided to vent their frustrations over haggling with a dip in the lagoon.
I had seen a number of birds flittering around and tried to get some pics, but only got this one fellow as he gathered material for a nest...

I did manage to get a shot of D14's "emotional support chicken" as well..

 
And just when I'd given up hope of catching any more birds, I got two in one shot!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
By this time, the cabanas were being cleared out and the beach was empty of people. We got the not-too-subtle GTFO hint and grabbed our stuff (plus the un-consumed Evian bottles) and started heading back. I tipped Fritz for the four of us, and Debbi tipped him some more for herself and Matthew. And we managed to score one last golf cart ride back to the ship, with the same driver who had gotten us to the buffet and back; my wife tipped him as well for taking such good care of us. We did the short walk back to the ship, once again among the very last to board (without being actual pier runners).

 
We really loved having that cabana. If I can score one at the same low price I got this one the next time we're in Labadee, I will definitely do that again. It made the day that much more pleasant and relaxing, especially since that day there was absolutely no wind or any breeze to cool things off. We had the shade of the cabana as well as the fan in it to help us keep cool all day.
No sail-away pics or video this time, we were already facing out to the ocean and sail-away was incredibly fast. I also missed the sunset again this time, but my wife got a nice shot from what we think was the deck 4 jogging path...

 
Dinner this night included tiramisu for dessert. Now I've been on a quest for the best tiramisu for a long time, and I had high expectations. I have to say, when it came out and I took my first bite, I was... disappointed is the only word for it. It seemed bland to me, but my wife and D14 both said I was nuts and that it had really great flavor, and was one of the best they'd had. So, I did what anyone would do... I had a second helping. You know... for research purposes.
I kid you not, it was night and day. That second piece was what I was expecting from a good tiramisu. Jigger was as shocked as the rest of us, and he guessed that because my entree that night was extremely savory and I was drinking some Zinfandel with it, my palate hadn't cleared enough to properly taste the dessert. By the time the second portion arrived, I'd had some additional sweet (a bite of my wife's chocolate panna cotta) and also some water, so I was better set for properly tasting my second helping.
After dinner, my wife and I tried going to the helipad again to try and finally see some stars. And we hit the jackpot! The sky was almost completely clear of clouds, and from the helipad the stars just shined down by the hundreds. We saw more than we'd ever seen before, and could even see their actual colors as well! I'd never seen just how orange Betelgeuse, in Orion, actually is, or how blue Rigel is compared to other stars. We just sat there for almost an hour with a few other adults who'd come out before us, everyone in awe at this amazing view.
And then the teenagers arrived...
First a couple, keeping relatively quiet but using their flashlights on their phones. Then a bunch more, and several of them stupidly trying to take pictures with their flashes going off. Within five minutes, a deckhand came out and escorted every one of us off the helipad, telling us it was closed. Damn kids.
We stayed up to watch the 70s party in the Royal Promenade from the chairs in our elevator lobby. It was OK, but I was glad i wasn't down there in the massive crowd. We called it after about 45 minutes, since it seemed the show was going to go on a bit longer and we'd had enough. Everyone else went to bed, but I wanted another crack at the craps table. Once again, it was cold and no one was doing better than winning a little bit followed by losses. I stopped after I'd lost another $33 on top of the prior night's $25, which was actually perfect -- counting the $50 I'd lost on the slots a few days earlier, I was exactly at break-even. I figured fortune was sending me a pretty strong signal, and decided I was done with the casino for this trip.
I went back to my cabin, where I found a little seal pup waiting for me...

 
Drink package tally for today -- I definitely made up for the prior day's shortfall!!
Fresh-squeezed OJ and cappuccino at breakfast Three Labadoozies -- far too tasty to say no to these! ("Lord, show me how to say no to this!") 1800 Reposado margarita for sail-away, from the Schooner Bar Ravenswood Zinfandel at Vintages Marchesi de'Frescobaldi, Toscana, "Rèmole" at MDR with dinner

Good for them !!  
SOOOOO happy that you're having a good time.  We all remember our first.  ....cruise, that is....  The beginning of an obsession. 

Well my husband has been after me about blogging our trip, so here goes.  He claims that he will be helping me blog, but I'll believe it when I see it.  Atleast at this moment he is sitting next to me looking at the screen and not reddit for once.
A little background on us:
I'm Tiffany, and he's Steven.  Our circus consists of four kids who are nine, seven, one, and eight months.  Steven retired from the Army last year, and I'm a stay at home mom.  We knew we wanted more time to be able to cruise, so we decided to take a stab at homeschooling this year.  So far so good, and to make it even better, it is significantly cheaper cruising when it's not over school break.
Our cruise plans:
We were originally on the Allure of the Seas September 1st cruise that got shortened by three days due to Dorian.  We stuck with the cruise, and had an amazing time and got a nice future cruise credit since we were in a 2 bedroom aquatheater suite.  It was so great, in fact, that we had to do a "grounding cruise" in a non-Star class cabin to bring us back down to Earth.  Guess it didn't work, because here we are doing another Star class cruise on November 17th.
The ship and cabin:
Allure of the Seas 
10730 (2 bedroom aquatheater suite)
We would have loved to be back in the deck 8 aquatheater suite, but since it's a last minute booking for a family of six, we were lucky to find this one open.
We will try to keep this as live as possible but with four kids and star class food coma, no promises. 
 

I've seen it done on Harmony.  In their MTD seating, they had several tables pushed together to accommodate large groups.  If you are in Traditional dining, I think there are a few rounds that seat 12.  Make sure your TA links the reservations and everyone has the same dining.  When you get onboard, go right to the MDR to verify your table.  Good luck!

Best thing EVER! We didn't find this out until the last few days of our Oasis sailing. We would chug a green juice with wheatgrass and then follow it with a Boody Mary. I considered that my daily source of veggies ?

No reservations at Playmakers. Back in May didn't have any issues on Symphony ordering. Plus no issues if asking for a to-go order.
Just make sure you tell them you have the dining package prior to ordering.