ScottD

Beat me to it!!

The bars on a cruise are never so crowded that a bartender will obviously pass over anyone. They may see a few people lined up at the bar and go to the one they know will tip first, but they aren't going to lean past you and serve the guy behind you, they are still getting paid and are being watched so they won't be THAT obvious. Relax. BUT in a regular land bar, damn right this will happen. Bartenders on land work strictly for cash tips and will gravitate to the bigger tippers, and rightfully so. If I'm a bartender and 2 people are standing there that have been there, and one tipped me 5 bucks last round, and one tipped me 50 cents last round- I don't care if the 50 cent person has been waiting longer or not- I'm serving the 5 dollar tipper first

I'm the same... I work 4am to 2pm most of the week, so I'm an early bird myself. But I also know on the ship we will be snacking all day, and on coco cay and in Nassau we will be eating on the islands, so when we get back, I'm not going to want to run right to dinner. But chances are, we'll keep what we have and just work around it- plenty of options to make sure we are fed when we want to be.

I wondered about something similar to this..can you call room service from a house phone,like near the elevators or at the casino and order food to your room..then you can head up to the room shortly after to wait,just to save like 20 minutes of sitting in your room? Or will they not send it if you don't call from the room?

Thanks! I really just wish they didn't change the early dining from 530 to 5. It doesn't seem like much but to me it feels like it. 530-545 is a perfect time to get to dinner. 5-515 just means rushing from port to dinner,basically

It's not a line jumper if the bartender serves you next. People at busy bars basically jockey for position and try to get the bartenders attention to get a drink. If you take care of a bartender anywhere, you better believe they're going to "notice" you much quicker than the person who hasn't left a dime the last few rounds.

Thanks. Yeah we have the early traditional, and boy is it early. I may ask when we get on board and make a game time decision. Thanks for the info!

Yeah, I really think they are just being nice when the say they appreciate these. Most places outside the states, hell, a lot of places IN the states, don't even know what these are and won't accept them.

Shows are now open for reservations through the website!

wow...we are down the East coast in Philly and it's a rainy foggy day here, too. If it was going to happen, a sea day is the best time, I guess!

I wonder about that. It's hard for them to spend, so maybe thats why they like it- they can save a bunch and cash them in somewhere.

We bring about 100 bucks in 1's just to tip bartenders and drink runners on the decks or wherever. If we decide right away that we are probably gonna be at the same bar most of the week (this past cruise we made a nightly stop at the upstairs bar of Music hall) we leave them a 20 the first night and man are they happy to see us for the rest of the week, I don't drink alcohol, and once they knew that- every time I'd step foot in that room, they'd start making me a different virgin drink every time. It absolutely helps. Also, my wife was a bartender for 25 years, she would feel so weird if she wasn't leaving a cash tip on the bar.

On most ships you can get it when you board, there will be a table set up on the promenade where you can pick them up. Otherwise, the bars will have them for you.

Sometimes they make notes, sometimes they are just that good. Our server remembered to bring my son a sprite and my wife a white wine every meal after the first night

I'll be on Oasis 10\1 (OV balcony deck 14). I'll get her warmed up for you. I also plan on doing a live\semi live blog.

love the Canadian humor at the container village "Jokes about the Titanic are never good ice breakers". Also, that Beaver tail looks like something right up my alley- Dough covered in sugary toppings...I'm in!!

Tax or gratuity?

I'm loving this itinerary-I'm more of a city guy than a beach guy, so this is right up my alley! I think I'm going to convince the wife to try something OTHER than beaches and islands!

Well...you have this family of 3 going to check some cruises I thought may be sold out or too expensive...we can always find one the kids friends to drag along if its gonna SAVE us money!

Funny... I actually had a night at solarium reserved, I cancelled it a few days ago but I just re-booked it for another night (Lobster night- none of us eat it!) So we do have night 6 covered. I think for a few of the nights 5pm will be fine, I was thinking the day we get back from Coco cay it might be a little early, especially if we eat a bunch on the island, then its like get back on and go right to dinner- so that may just be a windjammer or even maybe check into a walk in at Giovani's later on, which we'd like to do one night anyway. It'll work itself out, I really don't want to mess with the already set dinner time, I know if we cancel it we won't get it back and I don't want to deal with waiting in lines if we don't have to!

So we are set for 5pm traditional dining next month on Oasis. Now my wife is having a change of heart (I'm not a huge fan, either) if we decide we just can't make it at 5, can we ask on board to get changed for a MTD sitting for that day, or we just go somewhere else that night? How about if we are fine with MTD for the whole trip, should I try to call now and make that change or can I make a request for that on night one? I'm still a little weary on MTD overall, so if it means eating at like 8pm every night, I'd rather just keep the 5pm and if we have no other option, it becomes a WJ or Playmakers night!

We sailed Jan 29th on Oasis and brought our kid, there were quite a few others. I'm interested to see how it is when we go out of NJ on Oct. 1st.... really close to when most schools started, we decided we would just get his unexcused absences for vacation out of the way early this school year, lol

We are sailing for the first time next month from NJ, and saving so much on air and hotel fees..even with the parking fee, it's hundreds and hundreds less. Really want to do a Bermuda sailing next year, but want to do it on the cheap (interior rooms to begin with) and all of the rooms below Balcony are sold out already on most of the June and July sailings, so not sure what the plan is. We have our first MSC booked next October, but that is from Miami, as well.. I think we are looking at driving and just making a pitstop at a road side motel half way down, lol

Just had to google the Orlando city stadium name, then google the actual name. Never heard of it- but then again I had to figure out how to say, then had to google the Miami stadium name, as well.

I have started looking at the cruises closer to me, which are NJ and Baltimore- the problem is they only do the same 2-3 itineraries over and over. I love coco cay, but i really don't want to go there every cruise.