WAAAYTOOO

Congratulations, Matt ! Excellent job !

Yep, Steph has it right, Gigi. The trick with getting the same table for MTD is to let the Maître di (sp??) know, when you leave after that first night, that you want the same table for the rest of the cruise. That is, of course, if you LIKE your table location and waiters....sometimes you WANT to change them but most often, you want to keep them throughout the cruise. I have never failed to get the same table and waiters when I did that.

Steph, I am in complete agreement with you. Glad to know I'm not the only MTD abuser !

 

I HATE to be in the middle of something (usually gambling !!) and have to stop and go to dinner. I would rather just eat early and get it over with so that I can have the rest of the evening to do what I want to do (usually gambling).

 

One of the BEST things about being a suite guest is that you get to enjoy anything on the regular dining room menu in your room, if you care to do that. On our last cruise we were in the Royal Family Suite on the fantail and I have to tell you....we got pretty spoiled pretty fast for getting our dinner delivered to us on our balcony. I think we ended up doing that the last 4 nights in a row ! In that room we had a regular, full-sized table and it was very convenient to have our dinner delivered on the balcony. I'm not sure it's going to be QUITE as cozy in the aft Grand Suites on the Allure. From what I can see there are only small, low tables on the balconies in those rooms....but I'm certainly willing to give it a try !

Nice ! I guess the concierge is the difference. What a sweet (pun intended) service.

Actually, you CAN replicate the traditional dining experience with My Time Dining (MTD), but as I am often reminded, why would you ?

 

The purpose of MTD is to allow you to eat at [almost] any time you wish vs having to eat at 1 of 2 assigned times.

 

Having said all of that, I will say (as I have many times) I do MTD at the same time every night SO THAT I get the same waiters and have the same table. How is this different from traditional dining ? It is not. I am a MTD abuser. The reason I do MTD instead of traditional is b/c I like getting a private table and I have always believed that it was easier to get a private table (MTD upstairs) than it was downstairs at traditional. Since joining this blog I have been assured that I am completely wrong and that it would be JUST as easy to get a private table downstairs as it is to get one upstairs so I truly have no real excuse to continue using MTD like traditional dining except....it's habit by now.

 

Truly, I do believe that the line is shorter waiting for a MTD table since you don't have a horde of people all trying to be seated at the same time but that's just my opinion. I'm probably wrong.

 

So I will continue to abuse the MTD system and eat at 5:30 every night instead of going downstairs with the rest of the early diners...because I can.

Wasn't it a specialty turned complementary turned specialty ? I think they recently announced that it was going BACK to being a specialty restaurant after being free for a while. Maybe I have it mixed up with something else

True again !

This makes sense since the Chinese love to gamble.

I can't imagine there's anyone who has a ZERO balance at the end of a cruise. Surely the OBC can be used to help pay that balance off. That's what I'll be doing

The one and only time I ever spent $-0- on a cruise was waaay back when I first started cruising. We charged NOthing. We were so proud of ourselves for not putting a cent on our sea pass account. Then, just as we were getting off the ship at debark we stopped by the guests services desk just to be SURE that we had not been charged for ANYthing and that's when we discovered that we had a $50 OBC that we had not used - and so we lost it. That is the LAST time ever tried to go on the cheap. Just goes to show it does not pay to try and save money !

I'm with you, Matt ! There is never a shortage of things to snap up my OBC !

 

One of the discussions on this topic (if it is not this particular one) mentioned that you cannot use your OBC in the casino. That is only partially true. While you cannot take your OBC directly and use it in the casino, you CAN cover casino expenditures with OBC by taking a "cash advance" at the casino. The only problem is, it will cost you a 5% "convenience fee" unless you are a member of Club Royale. So you CAN spend OBC in the casino...with just a little bit of overhead.

 

If you have $100 of OBC and you take a $100 cash advance at the blackjack table, your sea pass card will be charged $105. It will be offset by the $100 OBC and the net charge to your sea pass account is $5....but you have successfully used you OBC and, in fact, now have $100 in your hand (unless you foolishly gambled it away !!!).

Ya know what ? I wear a lanyard every day to work. I do NOT want to have to wear a lanyard when I am on vacation !

 

I just put my sea pass card in the little inside pocket of my shoulder purse. Sure, sometimes I have to search around inside my purse to find it but I don't mind. It's part of the fun.

First of all, there is NO bad time for a cruise. I believe I have cruised nearly every month of the year except for maybe July and September. One of these days I will do an Alaska cruise in July...but still haven't done it.

 

We go every Christmas and love cruising during the holidays. We love cruising in Jan and Feb b/c getting out of the cold is such a wonderful relief. If you have to fly (like we do) then you have to plan carefully so that you build in additional days for travel in case of weather delays in the winter but as a rule, winter cruising to the Caribbean is the best....my opinion...BUT if you are cruising in the winter to enjoy water activities (beach, etc.) you have to go to southern Caribbean to get water warm enough for ME. I find the Bahamas and Virgin Islands areas to be too cool to truly enjoy the beach in the dead of winter....again...IMO. Is it better than the cold Northeast ? You betcha but I don't think it's warm enough to spend the day at a swim-up bar in St. Thomas. I tried that. I froze.

 

IF you have to fly anyway, just keep on going and fly to San Juan and go to the southern island. Nuttin' better !

I actually prefer the west especially if you're lucky enough to have Costa Maya on the itinerary. Of course, it will depend on what other stops you make

 

I am so tired of ST Thomas and St Maarten. Unless I am going jewelry shopping (St Thomas !!) I will usually choose the west.

 

I love Costa Maya but RCI rarely goes there anymore. I had heard some rumors about why that is, but I have never had anything confirmed by the cruise line (doubt they ever will).

There's only 1 exception that I have seen. When you are a suite guest and you book a cabana at Labadee or CocoCay before the cruise through the concierge they will charge it to your room; you do not pay for the cabana when the concierge books it for you. That's the only prebooking I have EVER done that I didn't have to pay for at the time that I booked it.

There are a number of videos on YouTube of these new suites. They look really nice but they are NOT as nice as the A1 or A2 on 8, 9 and 10....especially outside. They do not have the really nice lounge furniture nor big tables and chairs. They have a couple of lounge chairs and a small round table like any balcony has but not the nice stuff like the bigger aqua suites.

 

Obviously, they are 1 BR, 1 BA unlike the A1 and A2 suites that have 2 BR, 2 BA. They're basically large Grand Suites....but as one of the videos noted, the bathrooms in these new A3 and A4 suites aren't even as big as the standard GS bathrooms. The bathrooms look nice though...all tile with a nice "sitting area" in the tub.

 

I think RCI has overpriced them once they convert from GS to AS (May and June of '16). They are reasonably priced as GS but way OVERpriced (my opinion) once they rename them Aqua Suites next year.

 

According to the deck plans, the suites located in this same area on the Harmony have a different size config. According to the deck plans for Harmony the largest of these Aqua Suites are going to be on Deck 14 whereas on the Oasis and the Allure, the suites on 14 are the smallest....so I don't know if the deck plans have bogus information or they have just built them differently from what they did as add-ons on the Allure and Oasis. I have booked 14730 for the Harmony TA from Barcelona to Florida. I guess we will have to wait and see if the suites on 14 are really bigger than the ones on 11 or 12. I have my doubts.

You are so welcome

You are correct.  "Faucet" water, tea, coffee, lemonade and a number of different kinds of juices are free.  You must pay for soda either individually or as part of a soft drink package which includes fountain sodas, bottled water, and in some cases, fresh juice (this varies by ship.  Sometimes you can get fresh juice for free...usually not).  Can sodas cost a little over $2.  All other alcoholic drinks are priced individually if you do not get a package.

 

"Regular" coffee for b'fast is free.  A coke for lunch will cost you slightly over $2 and a cocktail in the evenings is about $12.  I'm not sure what beer and wine run....but I would plan for $8 - $10 per.

WOOHOO ! I will keep my fingers crossed for you !!!

Yeah, I'm sure the company that you have on the cruise is important.

I never sailed on the Monarch or the Majesty so I really don't have an opinion on the ships themselves but I agree with Doc (and apparently, RCI) that these short trips on the smaller ships are the best way to get the first-time cruisers hooked !

 

My very first cruise was a 3-day on the Carnival Elation (old, even then !!) and I thought I was on the Queen Mary. It worked though...been cruisin' ever since and paying WAY more money for a cruise than I did back then.

Well, I sure hope you finally catch a break !! Good luck

Monctonguy, were you able to get the big discounts by going through an online agency ?

Thanks, Steph

I have a specialty drink that I concocted. It is a pina colada made with amaretto instead of rum. It is SOOOO good.

That's very cool ! How do you participate ? Is it an online thing or call-in ?

 

Do you have a link or a phone number ?