jticarruthers

There are the handful of fixed menu options every night, steak, chicken, pasta, etc. and then the rotating menu will have 3-5 options in addition to the lobster plate. As a non-seafood person I have never had a problem finding an alternative while my son and mother compete in the lobster eating challenge.

I think the cruise planner pre-purchases are fully refundable for everyone (unlike cruise deposits). In which case there is no real downside to ordering it now and then cancelling and re-ordering if you do see a better sale down the road.

Sometimes ???

My takeaway from my AOTS experience was that they realize they lose a few existing customers over it but ultimately aren't too worried about it because they are bringing in new more profitable customers to replace them. In my case for example I talked about the fact that I had a group of 8 cabins booked for this coming Thanksgiving that we were thinking of cancelling in response to the way AOTS was handled last Thanksgiving. If you think about it though they would love me to cancel those cabins, all 8 were booked on "opening day" and are priced at about double now what they opened at. So they got to hold my deposits for 18 months and then resell the cabins for double the value. Probably to "new" cruisers that will spend a lot more on board than my "experienced" cruise crew. The whole sequence really damaged my view of RCI, not that I really blame them for their decisions as they are the "profitable" ones for the company.

Past May you are back into Hurricane season ;) But in all honesty I agree, with as limited as the RCI schedule releases are compared to some other lines you would think they could work it in without impacting existing bookings. Possibly they are realizing that the ship really really needed the work done and decided to bite the bullet.

Realized I didn't really explain why I felt that there was more to it. So over the course of the whole deal I spoke with: Customer Service Rep - Pre cruise Crown & Anchor Rep - Pre cruise Supervisor - Pre cruise Assistant to Michael Bailey - Pre cruise Customer Service Manager - On Board C&A Diamond Rep - On board Customer service supervisor - Post cruise Every single one of them had exactly the same script in front of them that went like this: Me - I am calling about the AOTS drydock RCI - yes the facility had a lot of damage and unfortunately we weren't able to get all the work done Me - Really because the facility announced right after the hurricane that it took only minor damage and was open normally for the start of the drydock RCI - well yes but the area was devastated, people couldn't get to the facility to work and so on Me - Seems odd the news reported that it wasn't as bad as feared in that area RCI - well sir the real problem was that a lot of the containers and equipment for the drydock weren't able to be delivered Me - But the hurricane was two weeks before the drydock, are you telling me you couldn't get everything straightened out enough to proceed with the work in two weeks? RCI - One of our containers ended up all the way in Venezuela, there was just no way for us to get everything pulled back together to get it done Basically my take away was that they hadn't given themselves enough contingency time to recover from what was absolutely an unfortunate act of god. Given that this was all right on the heels of the Empress of the Seas refurb, Liberty OTS sailing around for months without working slides after its refurb, Quantum/Anthem/Harmony all having write-ups about launching with work needing to be done during the first few cruises, etc. I feel pretty comfortable arguing that RCI screwed up the drydock ;)

The scars have healed so I don't mind running through it. Its very much a "who do you believe" story though so not a lot of cold hard facts that will shock you in anyway. Basically, there was a hurricane that went through the Bahamas a couple of weeks prior to the scheduled drydock. The hurricane was pretty severe, there was damage, etc. so certainly not doubting that. However, the drydock itself was very clear in stating that the impact on them was minimal, they were back open for business the next day etc. Fast forward a couple of weeks, no issues reported, drydock work started on time. About halfway through the drydock the announcement was made that due to the damage to the facility they would not be able to complete most of the planned work. When it was pointed out that the drydock wasn't damaged the message changed to the fact that the items needed to complete the work weren't delivered and so on and so forth. Over the course of several increasingly angry calls/discussions with various levels of RCI management I was left with my own personal opinion which is that they didn't plan the drydock well. It may very well have been screwed up "by" the hurricane but if you are going to plan a very expensive and time consuming drydock, during hurricane season, in an area that is regularly impacted by hurricanes, you probably should have built a little contingency into the plan to allow for that ;) Ultimately I was pretty ticked off at the time, more or less over it now, but would never sail on an RCI ship shortly after launch/refurb again.

We can each have opinions, as someone who followed the news about the drydock and what was impacting it pretty closely and then was directly impacted by being on one of the cruises shortly after the dry dock was "completed", lets just say I have a very different opinion and leave it at that.

Hopefully they don't screw up this refurb as bad as the last one.

We had a table for 12 on Freedom a couple of years back, there were 2-3 very long tables setup at the foot of the stairs that were that size. Not sure what layouts they are running on the O class these days but I would think they could match it ;)

Never really feel out of place ... our first couple of cruises it seemed like suits were the norm on formal night but i think the button down shirt and slacks is pretty much standard dress code for men now, sometimes the sport coat but even that seems to be rarer. Actually talking with my wife this morning and mentioned we are looking forward to trying MSC next year and dressing it up a bit. Yes we always have the option to dress up when no one else is but it feels like with the drop in formality the service level and "attitude" have changed as well and it just wouldn't be the same. (Yes a little hypocrisy there as i am one of those who is not dressed up and is taking a casual relaxed attitude to it). Somehow our first few cruises the MDR felt like an event now it's just where the food is.

Wife told me I didn't have to wear a tie after about our 3rd cruise ... haven't worn one since. Slacks and a button down shirt is formal wear for me now.

1 hour waterpark (you have to pick a time slot when you book) and then all day on the slide

Off original topic but On the modified topic ... we swore never to do Carnival again, but after about 10 years had some friends invite us to join them on Vista last year, just finished our 2nd Vista sailing and booked Horizon for next year ... have to say the new/big carnival ships are very different from the 4 night party dinghy's from 10 years ago.

Dropped my reservation last night, really wanted to meet you all on the group cruise but just couldn't justify the price. Hope you guys have a blast though !!

CP balcony booked (somehow the cheapest room on the ship) for now, will transfer to MEI once the group if formed but unless we see some price drops down the road I doubt I will make final payment, we shall see though.

Yeah took me an hour this morning to get 3 prices for the Thanksgiving cruise .... way higher than I am willing to pay but I may reserve it anyway and think on it for 15 months or so :)

Doesn't really help me any getting from Tampa over :) I look at Amtrak every time and the schedule on that never works either.

Have done Allure and Escape and if it was between those two, i would chose Escape. I have heard/read the the cabin design on Epic was funky (as noted above) so would probably take Oasis for that reason.

They also usually announce that certain itineraries will be available the week of "x" ... that gives them wiggle room on when during the week. Best bet check the schedule (Matt had an article up on it a few weeks back) and then check periodically to see if something has popped up yet ... also you will probably see posts pop up here as people spot new sailings appearing.

They say that every year and every year nothing works right ;) Maybe this year the IT guys got the memo ....

Also, don't fill up on the salad bar .... as a wise person once said it just fills up the space where meat is supposed to go. Also, don't eat the salmon that has been sitting out on the salad bar .... as the husband of the couple we were with said .... I have to run to the restroom. Food poisoning is not as much fun as you might think ;)

Knock on wood I haven't had any serious issues that I needed a TA to get involved in. For me it's the OBC back on every cruise and the fact that I have an expert to bounce questions off of that keep me coming back to the same TA. Figure at this point the OBC back has bought me at least one additional cruise so that part alone has been good. Personally I would love to see the cruiseline discount their direct fare by the TA commission so I could book direct and save the money but I don't see that happening ;)

Service was pretty good on Adventure but the style of food doesnt do anything for me so i dont see myself doing Giovanni's again.

I think Matt had an article up in the last couple of weeks with the schedule for new itinerary rollout. Basically throughout March they will be releasing the balance of the 2018 schedule and going through sometime in Spring of 2019. Different ships/areas of the world get released at different times during the month.