BowTieBrigade

Never seen this before. Anyone know if it’s a real thing or an e-mail scam?

On 6/6/2023 at 6:11 PM, CanHardlyWait said:

Oh please.

??? 

Mrs Bow Tie spent a couple hours yesterday pricing Princess and was much happier with their model. Her parents, decades-long LTR cruisers, have started doing the same. Can’t say for certain we’ll be booking with them next because Royal has the kid activities we want, but I believe RCCL is going to see a large number of cruisers start to calculate how much those diamond drinks are really costing them. As with Disney parks, the question for corporate will just be whether the higher prices and new passengers make up for the lost passengers. 

We normally do not bring out kids into bars, but the rising tide is the one we would make an exception due to the novelty of it. (Excepting of course during covid when the AO spots were filled. )

Look, I know that people want to be excited for their upcoming cruises. I do too; we sail on Wonder in three weeks. But I’m very concerned that these cost-cutting decisions will yield a lackluster trip. Cut lobster night, cut half the menu options, put out wait staff who don’t know drinks and don’t refill glasses, limit room service… It all adds up to getting less while paying more and that’s not the mentality I want going in. We’ve got two additional sailings on the horizon, both in suites, and they will be the last we book until RC comes to realize that business truism - it costs more to find new customers than to keep your current ones happy. 

30-60 days, typically. 

On Adventure in February, we gave up on MDR after night 2. The WJ is what it is, but it doesn’t require 75 minutes and a change of clothes. 

On 4/16/2023 at 4:13 PM, Lexster said:

I'm glad to know only main entrees come out one at a time. Looking forward to trying it out myself.

We've had apps staggered. I think it depends on the ship and the staff.

When we ordered multiples on Feb on Adventure, the second plate was clearly prepared at the same time as the rest of the food and so came out cold. I don’t mind staggering the “courses,” but if you can’t serve the food hot when you stagger them, you can’t stagger them. 
 

3 hours ago, Coda_Sarah said:

I'm glad Uber got on board.  I have been reading on Cruise Critic that some folks are frustrated about getting rides from terminal to airports.  It doesn't seem as easy as other cruise terminals.  It's probably because the airport is so much further away. 

It’s definitely difficult to just find a ride from the terminal to the airport - something you’ll want to figure out ahead of time. 

MDR food arrives all at once. 

5 hours ago, JoJoMama84 said:

@BowTieBrigade when are you doing this cruise? We are doing the same on June 2 and trying to figure out what to do with the kids which is what brought me to this page  

We’re on the June 11 Wonder sailing. You’ll have to warm up Coco Cay for us  

Jumping on to clarify my upcoming brunch at Mason Jar. Also, are the PB&J old fashions available for brunch or for dinner only?

Jumping on this, as well. I was unable to secure Leo's number myself. (Don't worry; different sailings  )

That was my absolute favorite venue on Allure.

For our next cruise, we’ll hit Coco Cay on Day 2, St. Thomas on Day 4, and St. Maarten on Day 5. We’re taking the kids to the water park at Coco Cay but don’t have any idea what to do for the other two stops. We don’t want to miss out on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world but we also don’t want to do water slides-beach-beach and miss out on the rest of the islands’ offerings. 
 

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

We’re looking at booking a suite on navigator and, unless we want to be at the front or back of the boat, it looks like the only options are immediately below the pool deck. Has anyone had a Deck 10 suite on Navigator and, if so, was there any noise problem? Thanks!

I’ve also had problems with the pre purchase where either the wrong amount was added to the sea passes or the credits were not added at all. I’ve since stuck with the C&A deal and, but for miscalculating by a dollar on our last cruise, it’s been far easier and cheaper. 

I don’t know about it being a diamond benefit, but we’ve gotten some % off arcade games when the kids meet a certain threshold on pretty much all our cruises. We’ve stopped pre buying because of it. 

Or take the smaller ships that don’t have all the bells and whistles

Our Christmas cruise had the same offerings as posted above. 

If I remember correctly, early episodes of Matt’s podcast discussed how Adventure Ocean staff would pick kids up from the MDR after they finished eating. I can’t speak from experience, however. If this was an option, I have not seen it since I started cruising. 

14 hours ago, Leigh Leary said:

Should we take him to Windjammer to eat and then to Adventure Ocean for us to then go to the MDR?

This is our go-to. The young kids have way more fun and we don’t have to control the behavior of a bored kid through dinner

5 hours ago, PhilandSteff said:We'll be on Radiance in February and that'll get us to Emerald status. With April being in a suite and one/two more sailings also in a suite we should make Diamond. At least that is the plan...

 

Phil and Steff

 

We’re on the same trajectory. Will be diamond by 2024 if they don’t change the qualifying numbers