JLMoran

Two hours should be more than enough after the first night, when the staff are getting to know everyone and their preferences. I was in traditional dining, late slot, and dinner rarely took more than 90 minutes. MTD should be faster since it's geared towards folks who may prefer a faster-paced meal.

Not quite sure which way this was intended to be interpreted -- surprised at how much extra capacity there actually is or surprised to find the visible lifeboats' capacity is less than the stated max capacity of the ship. From the article about lifeboats on @monorailmedic's blog, he does have this (emphasis added): So it's a pretty clear indication that even if the capacity of the boats you can see doesn't seem to measure up, there are enough emergency rafts around the ship that passengers and crew are more than accommodated.

Paging @twangster and @mpoole3! Both of them sail solo frequently or all the time, I'm sure they can give more info.

@Karma316, my apologies as I only just saw this question to me and realized I hadn't answered you yet. I'm assuming from your question that you're sailing on a Quantum class ship, where there are four separate dining rooms instead of one very large one that spans 3 decks. As @melski94 indicated, you are assigned to one dining room for the length of the cruise. This didn't use to be the case on Quantum Class ships back when they had dynamic dining; in those days, you would automatically rotate through all four dining halls and get a chance to sample the then-different menus in each. Now that dynamic dining is no more, all four restaurants serve the same menu and there's no real effect on your dining experience beyond the decor. The two "more upscale" venues -- Chic and The Grande -- are reserved for passengers using Traditional Dining. The other two venues -- Silk and American Icon -- are for guests in MyTime Dining. Since you indicated in one of your other posts that you are trying for the late-time Traditional Dining slot, you'll be assigned to Chic or The Grande and won't have the option to dine in Silk or American Icon.

Hi Kelly, welcome to the boards! Yes, Deluxe package is all-inclusive and lets you get anything from anywhere, up to a $12 value ($13 on Oasis and Quantum class ships); anything over that amount will be charged to your SeaPass card. The package pricing varies from ship to ship, but generally speaking the newer / larger the ship the higher the drink package cost will be. Just keep an eye out for sales on the Cruise Planner; most here have managed to get the package for $39 to $45 per night on a good sale regardless of the ship they're sailing.

Was this cheese shop about a 10-minute walk down the main road from the port, basically hang a left at the port village exit and go to a long yellow building on the left side of the road? That was the cheese shop that we stopped in after our all-day tour with Capt. Bob / Soualiga Destinations, and they also noted we could bring the cheese back to the ship and expect it to be OK until we got back home. Had an amazing aged Gouda there that they were giving samples of as their "cheese of the day". The marina entrance for Soualiga was at the end of that building, through a "tunnel" / archway in the building.

As others have noted, $13 for Oasis / Quantum ships, $12 everywhere else. Premium wines that go over the limit, you just pay the difference. In the MDR I saw only a few wines that went over the limit. Among the reds, it was the Marchesi de'Frescobaldi Chianti that I had most nights ($17); the Ravenswood Old Vine Zinfandel ($13, would be fully covered on Quantum / Oasis as long as the price held there),;and one crazy high-priced red I just couldn't muster the courage to spend the money on. Whites I didn't pay as close attention to, but I think there also it was mostly within the covered limit and just 3 or 4 that went over. Vintages is where it was almost impossible to find something appealing that would be fully covered; most of the wines I saw listed that were at or below $12 were ones I'd tried on land and really didn't like, or varietals that I just don't care for (Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir). I'm a robust red drinker, and all of the good chianti, sangiovese, and syrah on offer were anywhere between $4 over and no-way-in-hell-am-I-spending-that-much-on-a-glass territory. But I'd expect a venue that focuses on really good wine to be pricier, and those wines that were in the $4 to $7 over range were all really good and worth the extra few bucks, IMO.

The real question is how many posts you need to become the next "Windjammer Consoisseur"! Or maybe we need a new rank, "Oasis Class Denier". ?

We're talking Sorrentos, or the offerings in the Windjammer? I'd certainly hope that pizza was improved on ships that sail out of NY / NJ! We've got a reputation to uphold! ?

I believe this was discussed in this thread:

Just checked and confirmed the limit on Anthem is $13. Not stated on the Cruise Planner, but I did find it in the fine print at the bottom of this PDF covering the "Brands on Tap", which was linked from the Cruise Planner page for the Deluxe Package.

I found a web page listing the tiers. "Select" is listed as the bottom level, does that sound right for your play level? I thought based on comments you had made in other threads that you were at least at the second level(Prime).

Clarification on the corkage fee. No fee if you just drink it in your room (and you can ask your stateroom attendant for wine glasses with no charge). If you want to bring the bottle to the MDR or another restaurant to drink with your meal, then there is a $7.95(?) corkage fee. If you do the latter, you can ask the waiter to store your bottle if it’s not empty at the end of the meal, and then request it from any restaurant on the ship when you want it again. Just tell them your cabin number, and they’ll find it pronto. Yup, you can drink it anywhere. Pour a glass in your cabin and walk out to the helipad or solarium, or go to Vintages and make the staff wonder where you got that glass of tasty-looking red from. ?

@twangster and @mpoole3 both just took a sailing out of San Juan on adventure that had a late departure as well. One of them should be able to answer, I’m sure it’s the same for any ship leaving late. My assumption would be that the MDR is still serving dinner, but will let one of them or another with experience confirm.

+100 for this. Chef's Table is amazing!

Why is the moon cuddling with your better half? And why do you seem OK with this? ?

Enjoy the hotel! That's where we stayed before our sailing; beautiful atrium, nice pool area, and fantastic complementary breakfast. Pretty friendly bar staff, too.

<?> To the left! To the left! To the left! To the left! To the right! To the right! To the right! To the right! </?>

Oh great. So you're saying I actually penalized my staff by saying no one told me to give a high rating? ?

Sincere thanks for the time and effort you've put in to educate all the thousands of children who will have come through your class in that time! I keep debating whether to semi-retire around age 55 when the kids should be done with college, and get a job teaching computer science at a local college or community college. But now I've got the cruise bug, and I kind of want the freedom to book at any time I want, since I'll finally be at an age that family cruises won't have to be held slave to the school schedule! ?

So having said at the end of my live blog that I wasn't going to buy the Deluxe Package on my upcoming Anthem sailing to Bermuda... I just went and bought it! For the most unexpected of reasons... My wife told me to go ahead and do it! Her words to me were, "It's our anniversary cruise, go ahead and live it up a little!" I think she's looking forward to this "just the two of us" getaway cruise even more than I am! ? I'm still planning to bring my two bottles of wine to have with dinner, though that might yet change; but between morning OJ and cappuccinos, sail-away margaritas, boarding day lava flows, and the fact that Bermuda apparently closes down around 5 PM every day, I think I'll be able to break even. And with $125 of OBC, even after getting a dinner at Wonderland there will be enough to let me get some "premium" reds at Vintages. And as with the last time, I bought the Refreshment Package for my wife by calling Royal to purchase directly. No fuss from the rep I spoke with, just told her the reason my wife couldn't drink alcohol and the purchase was made! At $18 per night it's a no-brainer, I never see it lower than that.

Only 14?!? What's retirement age in Canada? I've got 16 years, 7 months, and 12 days to go if I have to go all the way to age 65. If I find a way to swing it at 59 1/2, then I'm looking at another 11 years, 2 months, and 12 days. Not that I've been counting for a while now or anything... ?

The helipad!

So I finally got around to talking with a C&A rep, and it's a good thing I did. The "extra" points on my C&A account were D17's!! Somehow, when I re-linked the reservation after the website "upgrade" and had to say who "I" was before it would show, that ended up tying her reservation to my C&A account. Since she turns 18 in September, I wanted to be sure that she had her points properly applied. They got it taken care of in a few minutes, and now I'm back to 8 points as I was originally expecting to be. It's all good. Wife and I will have 10 more points after our Anthem cruise, and then we just need one 6-night cruise in a JS and we'll be Platinum! ?

LOL! And following!