TracyRevell

Keep a close eye on this, although it's kid's sail free, they usually increase the adult prices to absorb much of the cost. They are certainly not free when you add up the overall costs compared to when kids sail free is not available.

From what I have been told the only advantage for DCL is the fact it's Disney, so the kids love it. The extra costs and lack of onboard facilities and entertainment, certainly doesn't make up for the fact it's Disney.

VOOM Surf isn't worth using at all from experience. It was so slow I could barely connect to my office VPN and collect my emails. The Surf and Stream is much better, but have experienced issues with the streaming part in the past. We have noticed this has gradually got worse as they have rolled out more ships onto the new tech. Although the Quantum maiden we had no internet until half way across the pond because it was out of range of the Satellite at the time, we were told by one of the onboard techs. Obviously now this has been expanded massively.

Don't think there is anything you can do ref this, they have specific numbers of rooms on certain rates, once they are gone they are gone. The best deals we have always found way in advance of the cruise sailing.

I think the chemicals are reasonably strong from experience, which isn't a bad thing with the volume of people going in and out of them.

They provide you, if you ask for a bluetooth system which you can sync with your mobile, It was actually really good. Laying in the Cabana with some nice music, very relaxing. Compared to round the main pool which is good, but so busy!

We take a hub usually with us so we can plug a couple of laptops in.

We had a Cabana, Chill Island I think they call it. It was amazing, with your own server, music system, fridge etc. Keep your eye open for deals on we, we paid half what some people had.

I don't think they do in Chops, but you can have extra sides if required.

I cannot remember the last time we were on a mixed table, they tend to just keep your family together. We use to love the days where you would meet some new people at dinner, dinner then was the main part of the evening. These days dinner is more about having food and getting to a venue for entertainment.

Wonderland is a great experience, albeit a bit funky. Jamies is also good, but not as good as Giovanni's Kitchen was on Odyssey. It comes down to what you like, we always go to Chops, but I like a good steak!

We found it was only worth doing on the larger ships where you had lots of speciality dining restaurants to choose from. We done it on Symphony and it was really good, we even received money to spend in Playmakers as well.

Go to Coco Beach Club, it's really relaxing and they have a nice speciality restaurant just for use by guests of the club. You get nice sun loungers and towels and a lovely infinity pool, albeit it was freezing when we were last there in December.

We noticed on Odyssey they had removed it from Chops, but did have it in the MDR. It's one of my favourite soups!

Never had a single issue on any ship with our deluxe drinks package. The only limited is $13 per drink, anything over that you have to pay the difference. Much better than other cruise lines who charge you for the entire drink cost if its over the cost limit. The selection is also very good, although this has been reduced over recent years.

On Quantum and Anthem they use to have different menu's in each which was themed with the decor. With Dynamic dining you would rotate between restaurants along with your waiting staff, it was excellent. They stopped this when they launched Ovation, although they did offer it to us as we had already booked it. They also dropped the tablets, which they had on the Quantum maiden, obviously didn't work. Not sure why the themed restaurants didn't work, although some restaurants would always be busier than others.

Really, why was it closed? It was open on Symphony at Christmas. I love the Solarium Bistro its a far more sophisticated Windjammer.

No all food has a charge, although I find the prices very reasonable. The food is also really good, the wings for me are a favourites while watching the footy!

In recent cruises I have found this has improved the Windjammer. I really don't like the place generally, it's full of people who can't wait in a queue for 30 seconds and all they are interested in is piling plates as high as possible. With the crew serving, I found it far more relaxed and it was managed much better. If self service is back, I will probably have to find one of the other more sophisticated venues again.

We rewrite the menu in every restaurant we go. On Symphony once we were with a group of friends in Hooked, I don't eat fish so I asked the host who was amazing. He had recently moved from NCL, not only did he organise me a bespoke meal of what he called "Sea Chicken" he also made the head chef bring it out. I am very picky, not difficult and I find if you treat them well, they will go out of their way to assist you wherever they can.

The MDR these days I find really poor in regards to dress code. It is full of people who have made zero effort with odd tables of people who have made some real effort. Dinner was always a get dressed up for event, I am not saying you should be wearing suits every night, tank tops and sportswear for me is unacceptable and an area RC should tighten up on. Speciality restaurants people tend to dress up more as they have been paid for, maybe this is why!

I really don't like the complimentary coffee, I find it really bland.

We always base our cruises off the age of ship, destinations and ship class. Nearly every cruise to date has been on ships sub 3 years old, mostly brand new and destinations which are suited to us. Basically we just follow the new ships around the world, lol.

We were on Odyssey and Symphony at Christmas and the protocols for unvaccinated children was difficult. With on certain venues open to anyone unless fully vaccinated it was hard work. Kids club was operating limited hours and sessions, so if you wanted a drink and a little bit of peace for a couple of hours in the evening you had to plan in detail. The protocols on the Oasis class ships were more intense than on the smaller ships like Odyssey also. Beware about what is also posted on the RC website, we found that this wasn't accurate either.

I am really not a fan of having a cruise sea pass card hung round my neck all day. Personally I put them in my pocket or get a WOW band which you can wear on your wrist wherever you go.