elleluv

Personally, I'm very excited about Dynamic Dining... it looks like it will fit the way we cruise very well.

I have answers to a couple of your questions... see below...

I love your review!! Thanks for the photos and all the information. I do have a couple of questions:

 

Did they say anything about kids menus? Someone somewhere asked about that on another thread.

At the TA webinar I attended this morning they said they will have kids menus at the main restaurants.

 

Did they mention anything about people with food allergies and how they will address them since there is, I am assuming, a different chef in each restaurant along with new wait staff for these people everyday.

 

How will they accommodate large groups of people? When I say large, we had a group of 11 that dined together. IF a group like that were to dine together every night, would they find it difficult to get a reservation at a decent time?

The website to make reservations and the new dining app are set up to make reservations for groups of up to 16.

Travel Agents were told they would be able to coordinate with groups department for groups up to 435 people.

 

 

Just thought of one more. Do you know anything about what the charges will be for the restaurants that are not free??

Jamie's Italian Lunch $15 Dinner $25 per person

Chops Dinner $35 per person

Chef's Table Dinner $89 per person

Wonderland Dinner $45 per person

Devin's Solarium Bistro Breakfast Complimentary Lunch $10 Dinner $20 per person

 

 

 

Out of boredom and curiosity, I decided to check my Mom's Booking Dashboard on RCCL website. She has already been upgraded to the 6:00pm seating and we are all set! Thank you all for your ideas and tips!

Good deal. :) Don't forget to link the reservations together now that you've all got the same dining time.

For what it's worth, I was on the phone with someone I've dealt with quite a bit in the D+ department this afternoon who has always been very reliable, so I asked him about this... he knew immediately what I was talking about and said that it's an IT problem... there hasn't been any change to the balcony discounts.

He said the IT department was supposed to make a change to the Next Cruise information provided on the website, but somehow the balcony discount information was affected in the process.

It can be tough for a frequent cruiser to donate blood on a regular basis...

In November 2012, I actually had a 3 week period where I was elegible after being in Labadee in November of 2011 and prior to going again in December 2012. If I didn't keep a "blood donation calendar" with a list of the countries I'd visited and the dates, I'd have missed that small window.

For those interested, here's a link to the Red Cross website with elegibilty requirements:

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements

And here's a link to the CDC Maleria map:

http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/map/

Personally, if your budget can swing it, I would do the 7 night Southbound and spend 3 or 4 days exploring some of Alaska that you can't access by ship before getting onboard... especially since you say this will most likely be your only trip up there.

As someone who lived in the Alaska Interior for 10 years, I can tell you the Southeast Coast of Alaska is just a very small part of what Alaska has to offer.

I thought that too but about 2 weeks ago the prices were somewhat what I expected...not as low as last year....last week the prices all went crazy right when the Feb sale ended.....I think a lot of people booked with the 1/2 off deposit and on board credit.

 

I am just wondering if it will go down when the hoopla dies down

Don't get me wrong... I think they will go down some on April 1 provided they still have a reasonable amount of inventory left... but I don't expect to see last years prices this year.

We usually take a Fall cruise and I was watching the prices pretty closely a few months ago and they were quite a bit higher for 2014 than what we've generally paid in the past.

Pete, where was the notification of this "special offer"? I would hate to miss that. ;)

Not Pete... ;) but they did have what they called "Happy Hour" prices for Internet listed in the Cruise Compass while I was on Jewel in February. I don't remember what times they were offered, but I'm wanting to say it was for a couple of hours in the morning and then again in the afternoon while in port. They had them listed for several days during the cruise.

I was all excited about it and went to use it expecting to get the special rate, but it still charged me 85 cent per minute. I assumed that it had something to do with the fact that I was using coupon time, but I could be wrong.

I think part of the high prices for Allure in September has to do with the fact that Oasis will be in Europe... If people want to sail on and Oasis Class ship in the Caribbean during that timeframe, Allure is the only option. Having only half the supply available is going to equate to higher prices.

Is it wrong that I know those are shots from the Solarium on the Jewel? I was just there four months ago.

 

Jewel is one of the indoor Solariums. It was very quiet on my cruise - I think the busiest day there were 10 people in the pool at once.

 

EDIT: correction, that is not the Jewel. Same class of ship though. Looks so close that it fooled me.

Very close... :)

Those were definitely taken on Serenade... Radiance and Brilliance have 3 elephants on the wall behind the pool... Serenade and Jewel both have two, but Jewel has a decorative pagoda between the two elephants.

Can you tell we've spent a lot of time in the Solarium on Radiance Class ships? I will say that we enjoyed them a LOT more prior to adding the Park Cafe there... the atmosphere has totally changed since that addition.

For what it's worth, they had Red Velvet Cake Friday night on Brilliance.

They've changed where the OBC shows on the invoices as well... now instead of the OBC's showing in the booking charges section there is a seperate section for onboard credits below it. I thought the OBC was missing from the reservation on the first invoice I got after they made the change.

Thanks!!!:)

Thank YOU for keeping the list for all of us! :)

I just got a couple of emails this morning in connection with upcoming cruises and have adjustments to the list....

Willie, who is on Brilliance is actually leaving for vacation on November 16, not the 19th... that makes a lot more sense because the 16th is turnover day.

Luca on Legend is back from vacation. According to Luca, Larisa was the vacation replacement and is currently on Navigator.

Don't let it worry you... I'd just allow 4 hours for the trip from Seward to Anchorage although it really SHOULD only take 3.... :)

I'm sure RCCL has buffered the potential travel delays into their recommended departure time.

Personally, even though it's pushing it a little bit, I'd probably take the 1:40 flight unless there is one that leaves an hour or so later.

So do you know if the cruise transfer bus leaves Seward at 7:00am ?...I'm pretty sure I've seen them boarding the bus as I've been getting on the cruise train for that departure at 7:30am...The train takes 4 hrs. and I was thinking the bus takes 3 hrs. Thanks so much...appreciate your 2 cents :)

3 hours for the bus is about right provided traffic is moving along at the speed limit....

We lived in Alaska for 10 years and used to drive that route quite a bit during the summer in our RV. We often ran into heavy, slow moving traffic on that route as people were sightseeing and watching for wildlife along the way.

The other possible factor is construction... We were just up there about a month ago and drove down as far as Portage and they are still doing construction along the Seward highway at the Anchorage end of that stretch... at one point it went from 3 lanes down to 1...

The earliest flight time RCCL allows when using their bus transfers is 2:00 pm from Anchorage... 2:30 pm for train transfers....

Making your own iced tea is a good way to go... they have pre-made iced tea on board, but it's not nearly as good as what you could brew yourself. :)

I am very particular about my water and have no problem with the water on the ships... no aftertaste that I've noticed whatsoever....

Actually, Mr. Picky Paul (;)), it depends on how you read the original post.

 

Was the LA saying that the person would surpass 700 points at the age of 25, or was Kokomo saying that, after hearing from the LA that the person had roughly 550 points?

 

And, let's look at the math.

 

In 23 years, the person (hereafter referred to as "TP") has accumulated roughly 550 points.

 

If there has been any symmetry to TP's cruising, then that is roughly 24 points per year.

 

At that rate, it would take another six plus years to reach Pinnacle.

 

Now, if the LA was actually privy to TP's bookings, then TP would have to have 11 weeks booked in suites over the next two years for the projection/speculation to be true. Or 22 weeks booked in regular cabins.

 

My head is spinning.

 

 

 

:D

Unless he's sailing solo under the new policy... :D

were there any changes to the coupons when they put them on the card or are they the same as they were on paper? as in any new ones? any of the good ones gone?

No more Casino Match Play on our electronic coupons on Jewel in July... :(

Brilliance Aug 19 to Aug 31 - Coupon Books

Please let us know if you think it is possible to schedule the interview to fit in with a layover in one of the airoorts.

I would do that if I had a very long layover scheduled. I'd probably want about 3 hours to work with... Not so much because the interview itself takes very long... it was probably about 20 minutes from the time we sat down until we were done.

The locations I looked at all have the interview location outside of security, so you'll need time to re-enter the secured area. You also may have to wait a little while after checking in for the interview to start.

First of all YEA!!! KC is getting TSA Pre-Check. Second of all what are you signed up for that you get TSA update emails?

 

Thanks for posting this!!

You are quite welcome.... I thought you'd be happy about that... :)

I *think* I got on the TSA mailing list because I was one of their original test subjects for Pre.

When they first started testing the program they did it with frequent flyers of few airlines in a couple of their Hubs. I'm SLC based and am a Platinum member in Delta's FF program, so Delta sent me an email inviting me to participate.

Once I accepted the invitation with TSA through a link that Delta provided me, I started getting periodic emails from TSA about the program.

The system is relatively new, so maybe in the future, the TSA Pre-check which comes with your GE isn't at all airports yet. I fly our of Kansas City International (KCI), which can hardly be called an international air port. It has a few flight to Mexico and that is it, but there is no TSA pre-check and only certain airlines will let you enter your GE info for the GE to work.

I just got an email from TSA a couple of days ago... they are scheduled to add 60 more airports to the TSA Pre program by the end of the year and Kansas City IS on the list. :)

They are adding more airlines as well... Currently the airlines participating are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways and Virgin America. JetBlue and Southwest are expected to begin participating when "operationally ready".

http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/2013/09/04/tsa-precheck-expands-60-additional-airports