Bryan S

Looking forward to this cruise as a preview on her. Also sailing JOTS in 2024 in the Norway Jyords.

On 11/3/2022 at 11:05 AM, PRMLVM said:

Thank you everyone for the replies!  He called to change to the Traditional seating, and chatted with the RCI person.  He mentioned he was open to shared seating, and the RCI rep said he would make a note of it in the reservation.  Here's hoping that's a thing!

When I sailed solo in October I was seated alone butt surrounded by other two-top tables with couples. We got to know each other without the presume of having to wait for others to be seated before ordering. I was initially offered to sit with others but found this arrangement worked really well for me.

On 11/6/2022 at 12:35 PM, AshleyDillo said:

Nope. Labadee is more ribs, hot dogs, hamburgers. The Barefoot Beach spread is supposed to be "upgraded" but the regular food offerings were way better.

Thanks. I was wondering this myself. I enjoy a taco salad on a beach day. I'll plan to enjoy the ribs.

On 7/1/2022 at 8:24 AM, AshleyDillo said:

When you book hibachi it comes with the hibachi meal which will include the protein, edamame, vegetables, rice, salad and dessert.

I was wondering this myself. I'm going solo in October on Mariner so I'm trying dinning I normally wouldn't.

On 7/13/2022 at 9:33 AM, Ampurp85 said:

You can try checking the app for current sailings. But mostly it will be the Windjammer, Chops from like 12-2pm, Coastal Kitchen for Suite guest, Park Cafe, Giovannii's again from like 12-2-ish and probably Izumi's.......if Sabor is staffed they might will probably be open as well.

My experience is that Chops often is not available as it's being used for the continuous cruise guests.

I see many people ignoring dinning suggestions with the exception of them nights. I've never seen anyone turned away. My partner dresses too far down for my taste but like @Pooch, I'm not luging formal attire anymore since so few are dressing up.

The freestyle machines in July on Allure had a lot of maintenance issues. However, we found the bar waiters much more helpful with ordering by the glass than we had previously.  They also were using the single wall uninsulated cups but I've been seeing posts that the traditional two-walled cups were making their way back to the fleet.

9 hours ago, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

Typically the traditional reservation, as you have for your cruise, means everyone with the 5:15 time must  be in MDR no later than 5:30 at which time the doors close.

I wish it worked this way consistently but this hasn't been our experience. As recently as July on Allure we were sat as a couple at a 10 top and were told we had to wait for the others who never showed. only after 40 or so minutes were we allowed to order. We changed to a two-top to avoid a nightly recurrence.

Regardless, I enjoy the consistency of having the same server and assistant. I order iced tea each evening. After the second evening they stop asking.

The same on Allure. I was surprised.

We typically will tip $50 to our cabin steward for a 7 day cruise on top of prepaid tips. We often will greet and give half on the first day as this insures excellent service. We typically tip our wait staff much lower do to inconsistent service. However, we received excellent service during our July cruise on Allure so tipped $40 to the waiter and $30 to the assistant. 

We’re not convinced prepaid tips are allocated accurately for the way we cruise so we like to share a bit extra.

My mother as always tipped extra on drinks and had the similar experience of extra attentiveness.