Lexster

1 hour ago, Pooch said:

Have you tried deleting and reinstalling the app?

Yep, still doesn't work. Not a huge deal, I guess, as long as it eventually works on the ship.

Yep, did it just now, same thing. The weird thing is I have a menu for 150 Central Park and Sabor, but nothing else. There were there before I did your suggestion, though.

15 minutes ago, Pooch said:

Click on the little torso top right.

Click on select a different cruise (right under yours)

Click on browse our ships 

Click on Harmony 

select this weeks sailing 

menus will be in the dining section 

You can look at any ship/sailing this way.  Don’t need a reservation to do it.

I tried this previously when I saw this, but it just went back to my sailing again and didn't show the menus, unfortunately.

15 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

I am not sure what you mean about switching.  I only have one sailing.  I don't recall ever seeing menus and no idea where to find them.

Normally if you tap on Dining and pick a restaurant, there's a menu there, but this disappeared for me weeks ago. Was just hoping it was a glitch and would re-appear, but guess I'm not the only one!

Did the menus all disappear from the app for you all? They were there and disappeared around the time of check-in. I was hoping they'd be back, but I still got nothin.

6 hours ago, Pattycruise said:

I’m on Enchantment-it’s our first night- and a gentleman at the table ordered 2 entrees. He was told one at a time.  Our entire table was served, the waiter never came around to ask “is your meal satisfactory?”.  The gentleman was served his second meal. The assistant waiter cleared the plates and no comment made when he took my barely touched food.  I never saw the gentleman get a second plate, or I would have spoke up.  
interestingly everyone at our shared table is either D+ or Pinnacle .  Do waitstaff know?  There were other service issues as well.  No head waiter on our entire dining room.  Did they do away with them?  Maybe they’ll show up tomorrow?

I would certainly either find the maitre d, but if you can't find them go to the customer service desk and let them know there are issues.

26 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

It will crawl for me until I wake up on Thursday before the trip and realize it actually went fast.  It will go fast without the benefit of feeling like it is going fast.

Haha, very true. It always looks fast in hindsight.

Only two more Fridays and it'll be time! I can feel it! These next two weeks better go by fast!

9 hours ago, BMW Hoosier said:

You can't get brats and sausages at home too?

I think they mean getting hot dogs at a food business is relatively easy. Not so much with brats.

Yep, I also don't like Facebook and not much of a gambler, but have fun!

I forgot about all the parties, so that's exciting. When I did my last cruise, it was right after things were still getting used to starting back up last year so they didn't have many parties or parades or anything.

14 minutes ago, Jonesy said:

This is probably my final trip schedule.  I don't think I'll be adding, removing, or changing anything at this point.  I'm so booked up that changing anything is a challenge

 

Day 1:

2:30 - 5:00pm the Spa for various things

9:30 - 10:30pm Solarium Bistro

Day 2

10:00 - 11:00am On a Roll Sushi class.

1:00 - 3:00pm Jamie's Italian

3:00 - 3:45pm Sprinkle Time Cupcake class.

6:30 - 8:30pm Chef's Table dinner

9:00 - 9:45pm 1887: A Journey in Time

Day 3 (Costa Maya)

5:30 - 7:30pm Izumi Hibachi Experience

10:15 - 11:45pm Grease

Day 4 (Roatan)

8:30 - 11am Mayan Eden Eco Park shore excursion

8:00 - 10:00pm Sabor Taqueria & Tequila Bar

10:15 - 11:05pm The Fine Line

Day 5 (Cozumel)

10-ish - 4pm Beach Club

7:30 - 9:30pm 150 Central Park

11:30 to 12:20am Adult Stand Up Comedy

Day 6

11:30 - 1:30pm Sip. Tour. Brunch.

6:00 - 8:00pm Chops Grille

8:00 - 8:50pm Columbus, The Musical

Day 7 (Cococay)

8:00 - 5:00(?)pm Cabana

 

Ugh.  Maybe I went a little overboard?

Yep, you're pretty busy! And hey, we're doing the Mayan Eden Eco Park too!

1 hour ago, FSUFAN said:

I guess I'm just a cheapskate.  I can't justify the extra cost on top of the MDR meal that I have already paid for via the overall cabin cost. 

There has to be a soft cost for the MDR.  I can guess that it is at least $30/pp each night.  So, I forego the $30/pp (that I paid for) and then add another $40/pp to $80/pp on that.  So, a meal out at the specialty restaurant costs me, in soft and hard dollars, around $150-$200 (depending on the plan price).  And I am having to fight to get a reservation!  Sorry no.

I know that people like it and I know that it makes money for RCL.  Still, I am SMH .  

You're not wrong. Indeed, no doubt the cost of food in the MDR is factored into your ticket price and you can absolutely have a great time never paying anything extra. It is vacation, though, and some people enjoy splurging on extra things that may be a higher value than the included food and I think that's valid, too.

To be fair about "fighting for a reservation", the OPs issue was they wanted to book Izumi which can only be done there. Izumi has extremely limited seating, so that's likely why they do that. There are only two hibachi tables and dinner is probably around two hours, so that's why it sells out fast. If you're trying to go anywhere else, they have a reservation desk usually on boarding day on the Promenade and if you do it soon after boarding, you'll likely get most, if not all, of the spots you want with minimal issue.

That being said, I would agree that unless you're going to completely forego the MDR and Windjammer for your meals, I wouldn't get the UDP since you are then wasting your money.

Yeah, one of the issues is the menus for specialty dining don't ever change, so once you've gone there once, you've seen everything they have. This is opposed to the MDR and Windjammer which changes things up every day. For me, personally, I think the Chops +1 or the 3 day package is a good balance unless you're on a shorter sailing where you won't have to double up on visiting restaurants.

I usually eat at 5, so I'm okay with that.

21 minutes ago, jbrinkm said:

We were on Allure last week and on the first night, our waiter made clear that one entrée at a time was the new rule. We were fine with it, and he would bring two appetizers or two desserts at the same time on the rare occasion that we ordered that way, just not entrées. We were also allowed to order appetizers for dinner if nothing else appealed to us. (They also had the Indian vegetarian meal available each night, printed on the menu.) We had early dining.

One night, we ordered 1 of each dessert for the table and all 6 were brought at the same time. The food was always warm, never cold, as @Peter D said. Dinner felt very efficient to us (NOT rushed, just food was brought quickly on the heels of finishing the prior dish). Half of the nights, we were finished in an hour from arriving, and the other half of the nights, we were there less than an hour and a half. We were on a sold out sailing, so a very, very crowded ship, and the MTD people were already lining up. I was happy that we could have a nice, warm meal, eat whatever we wanted from the menu, have it be efficient, not have the overcrowding on the table, and free up our table for MTD sooner than we would have under the old system. I know it doesn't appeal to some, but it didn't bother us in the slightest. 

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

20 Days Left

Today we went shopping for some new vacation clothes and also got a bunch of snacks for the road trip. We'll be doing a two week quarantine before the trip starting Tuesday. I did this last year and figured I'd do it again even if there aren't covid tests anymore. I don't want to risk getting sick.

Weird, I didn't have an issue with the brats on Oasis last year.

Oh man, three weeks left! For me, it's 20 days since my vacation starts on the 4th!

Right, unless they put in Sleep Number mattresses in the cabins, they'll never be able to please everyone, unfortunately.

I didn't mind the mattress, but I had an aching neck most nights from the pillows. I'll be bringing my own memory foam pillow for sure.

22 minutes ago, Matt said:

Had to laugh at this decoration, shared by @mpoole3

 

Haha, I had NO idea what was a code for swingers!

20 minutes ago, Pattycruise said:

On Radiance they brought out my chicken marsala first.  I needed a steak knife to cut it, so I left it sitting there awaiting the waitstaff to glance in our direction so I could signal for the lobster tail that was waiting in the wings.   Btw, no baked potato with the lobster tail-I thought there used to be-now it's just rice. When he finally brought the lobster tail I requested the cheese tortellin since I had not eaten the chicken-what I would call an "appetizer size" came out-12 tortellini-yes I counted and it was not served until I had finished the lobster.
I'm more the type who likes the "last bite" to be the best tasting thing from the meal.  I feel bringing out individual plates takes that option away from me.  I don't order dessert, so no "last bite taste" from there.

Yeah, I've read that subsequent dishes are smaller than the first entree.

47 minutes ago, ChessE4 said:

We only order one entree or other course at a time. No impact on many cruisers.  ( I won't say majority because I have no data.)

What I meant was them bringing dishes out one at a time as opposed to all at once is going to cause that person's meal to take longer to complete which goes counter to Royal's claims of wanting to speed up the meal.

2 hours ago, FireFishII said:

Definitely following.  Great start. I have not been to Wonderland so I am interested in your report about the restaurant. I totally get driving 16 hours instead of flying.  Driving can be an adventure in itself. 

Warning about Costa Maya - it is called Costa Maybe for a reason.  Last year, the cruise I was on had to abort that port. I just read that someone else's cruise had to abort.  I believe in my case, it was due to the unrest in the area.  For the other person, it was due to rough seas.  But with or without Costa Maya, you will have a fantastic time.

Yeah, luckily like I said we don't have any planned excursions there, so if we have to skip it, I won't be super sad or anything.