nissin

On Quantum, it was like this:

Call the gym using the room phone.

She can tell you whether you can come immediately because there are spare spots. (max 25 pax I believe it was).

Otherwise, you'd normally ask her when she has available slots, and reserve one of them.  Slots begin on the hour, and last one hour.  I think they will only let you reserve 1 hour per day in advance.

22 hours ago, JimnKathy said:

In order to save time, I know that the bars on the ships are heavy users of Monin-brand flavored syrups (and yes, they do have a mojito flavor as well). As a former bartender, I can tell you that stuff is EXTREMELY sweet and has a tendency to overpower most cocktails. You may have received a mojito that contained a little too much syrup, thus overwhelming the white rum flavor.

OP here.  In my case, the mojito wasn't unusually sweet.  
Just to clarify, I did watch the suspect bartender do the generous-looking pour BOTH times.  When he first made it, and when he made the replacement.
But it tasted weak both times.
So I suspect the rum bottle contained greatly diluted rum, and he could make a big show of being generous with the jigger-ing, and still use hardly any real rum.

15 minutes ago, Floski said:

Just keep sitting there, reach around, push the button, and enjoy the whoosh!!!!!

I did try this.
Pushing the button while still sitting, is possible but not easy for the more flexible among us.
No it doesn't feel like dangerous amount of suction.
Never tried on an airplane before though.

9 minutes ago, wordell1 said:

We're you tipping extra? I promise the problem will go away if you start. Hand him an extra buck or 2 and tell him you like it strong.

I did not tip beyond the automatic 18% at any of the bars I got cocktails at. 
Out of ~6 drinks, during a 4N nowhere cruise, only this one was suspicious.

7 minutes ago, SPS said:

I've really only heard of this happening at the Bionic Bar where the programming controls the pour. (The robots know they're not gonna get a tip so they don't care! )

I've seen every drink that I've been served at an RC bar prepared right in front of my eyes. The bartenders typically pour the jigger full and continue to pour liquor into the glass as they dump the filled jigger into the glass. (Possibly the bartender did not do that?)

The only similar experience I've had is being given the wrong drink in the MDR. I could distinctly tell that the drink served to me had spiced rum instead of the whiskey I ordered. 

That's the thing... some drinks I ordered from a waiter from a deck chair or table, and never had a problem. Others from a bar (poured in front of me) were also fine.

It was just this one drink from Sky Bar, that was a problem.
I watched him pour from the rum bottle into the jigger, full + overflowing, more generous looking than some others that turned out fine.
So I don't know if he was dishonest, or if someone else had diluted that bottle and he was unaware.

20 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

In part due to the mechanism of how the toilets flush. Household toilets use gravity to flush.   Ships toilets use suction. Granted, it wouldn't not flush with the lid open.

Also in part for sanitary reasons since stuff in the bowl can splatter around the room if you flush with the lid open. And bug like norovirus love to spread that way.

That's the puzzle... If it was for functional reasons or for sanitary reasons, then why do the PUBLIC toilets have flush buttons in "NORMAL" locations?  

Wouldn't the poop-splash-mist problem be an equally great concern in a public toilet as a cabin toilet?

Perhaps the designers felt that the cabin toilet had a greater need for lid-down flushing, because of the cramped space, and toothbrushes and glasses being nearer to the WC compared to in a public toilet.

Not much of a drinker or a bar person outside of holidays, so I wasn't sure if it was just me, but I received a suspiciously weak ice-blended Mojito from the Sky Bar (outdoor main pool) of Quantum. 
To be fair, the bartender did agree to replace the drink, even though I had already drunk like 60% of it, I asked him not to blend the ice this time, I tasted it immediately but it still tasted distinctly weak, I told him, and he said ah that's just the soda on top and stirred the drink with a spoon.  It didn't taste any stronger after the stirring, and I sort of let him know, but left with the replaced drink.

I described the incident in my post-cruise online survey.

Anyone else ever encounter this?  Was it just me?

Wouldn't it be a serious violation of bartender code of ethics or something?
 

It appears to be intentionally designed to encourage you to close the toilet cover before flushing.
Anyone else not like it?
What are the pros and cons of this?
But the PUBLIC toilets have buttons located NORMALLY, i.e. they're usable in any seat configuration, with some being manual-push, and some are sensor-activated.

I have seen this type of toilet in staterooms of Quantum & Ovation. 
Are all RCI ships like this?
Are RCI continuing with this design choice for their newer ships too? 
What about other cruise companies?

On 10/17/2021 at 3:03 AM, smokeybandit said:

The casino is the only way to get cash from your OBC

This was the only way I found too, and there is a 5% charge.  
i.e. Use 105 USD of OBC to receive 100 USD of casino chips. 
There is no charge to cash out casino chips into USD paper currency.   
And there seems to be an unwritten expectation that you gamble with some of the chips before cashing out the chips.  One staff vaguely told me "at least 10%".

On 10/17/2021 at 4:00 AM, cman2020 said:

How would you do so? Just draw against your obc in the casino then cash out? 

On Quantum, it appeared that different staff had varying knowledge of the OBC-Casino policy.

One casino staff told me that the jackpot machines would allow you to use your SeaPass to buy Jackpot credits with OBC (with a 5% charge), and then regardless of whether you gamble or not, you could press the cash out button, which causes the machine to print a voucher for you, which you give to the casino cashier who would then give you USD currency.  She told me if you cash out without gambling some of it, it might cause you to be banned from the casino in future.

After speaking with a few casino staff, I went to a blackjack table ($15 min bet) and asked to buy chips using my OBC, the dealer checked to make sure I was agreeable to the 5% charge, then the supervisor took my SeaPass and then I got my chips.  I placed the $15 minimum bet each time, and after 6 hands, (which is a total of $90 risked, by my count, which exceeds 10% of the chips I bought), I was in a small profit, I decided not to press my luck, so I cashed out with a slight profit.

On 10/17/2021 at 6:12 AM, WAAAYTOOO said:

Can you no longer go to Guest Services and get cash if it is refundable OBC ?  I have never had to resort to such tactics but I thought you used to be able to get cash at GS.

Guest Services gave me the impression that OBC is normally "non-refundable".
There wasn't much they could do, even when I supplied them screenshots of Facebook chat with RCI confirming that unused OBC would be refunded to credit card.

On 10/17/2021 at 7:17 AM, cman2020 said:

It’s a obc as a result of the price going down. So your saying if it wasn’t used it go back to my cc? 

A few days before my cruise, I too managed to get someone from RC-Singapore on the phone, and got price-match in the form of onboard credit. (waited on hold for ~45mins).  She wasn't clear about whether it was refundable as cash at the end of the cruise. 
I asked on RCI's facebook, (their FB messenger chat response time is much quicker compared to the Singapore call centre) and they checked my booking numbers, and confirmed that unused OBC would be refunded to credit card.  However, during the cruise, the Royal app showed the words "non-refundable", and so I asked Guest Services, and they said it was non-refundable as far as they could tell, and could not provide anything more satisfying, even though we supplied them with screenshots of the Facebook messenger chat.  Guest Services staff even mistakenly told me that the Casino wouldn't accept OBC.

Is it possible to withdraw remaining onboard credit?  i.e. convert into real money?

What about playing in the casino? Are you always allowed to get your casino credits out as normal money?

Otherwise, remaining onboard credit always expires at the end of the cruise?