The Fun Researcher

Yes, but I think it's being suggested that they increased that limit too far and too many were allowed to do MTD. It's all hearsay since I'm not sure we know if they started opening MTD to more and more of a percentage of guests on the ship. If they did, I suggest they scale back the amount of those allowed to utilize MTD to help resolve the problems they've created, part of which is due to the new way they are seating MTD guests. It was never the case that if you prepaid gratuities, that you automatically were placed in MTD. For some time, if you wanted MTD you had to prepay gratuities. I think Royal even removed that restriction in recent years, but I'm not sure. I think they stopped requiring prepaid gratuities if you wanted MTD. Can someone confirm? We've always prepaid gratuities so it never applied to us, we were always

Yeah, Chops is historically at least a few dollars more per person for lunch versus Giovanni's or Jamie's.

They could easily limit the number of guests using MTD. Just like when early traditional "sells out", or late traditional, just limit the number of guests who can choose MTD and force the others to traditional times. The way they handle MTD now is terrible. It also forces early seating to be way too early in most cases, so it's a lose, lose scenario.

Royal is TERRIBLE for late night offerings. Thanks for posting this OP. At least it's another option.

Makes sense. The two things that I would like about the Odyssey is the one large main dining room, and Playmakers. The thing I would miss with an Odyssey would be the indoor pool and hot tub area. It’s just not quite as set up for cold weather, cruising (if you are sailing with cold-weather out of the East Coast)

Interested to know what the big difference was for you between the Odyssey and the Anthem? Not arguing just curious since they are so similar.

I’ve ordered the water through the cruise planner (not the gift section) 2-3 times now and have yet to get Evian, or 1L bottles. I did get the correct total ounces of bottled water, and then some. I don’t really care, but if it happens again I will say something at guest services. It is incorrect advertising when that happens and the more voices that spotlight the problem, the more likely they will fix it for those that expect the 1L Evian bottles (as they should expect)

Not sure if I'm reading this right. In our case, our first cruise on X was in 2017 when we were platinum on Royal. That cruise we were Select on X. We are taking a cruise in December on X and are now Diamond on Royal. We are are Elite on X even though we've only sailed with them once before.

I got the same email. I knew already that status transfers, as it has been for years, but the wording of the email could have been more clear. I had to read it a couple of times to understand that basically they are just putting together a dedicated gathering point a 2-3 times a cruise for Elite and above. I just wish Celebrity would follow Royal and implement the drink vouchers for Elite and above. The "happy hour" concept doesn't work for us. It just happens to be right around the time we are getting ready for and eating dinner.

I'll second that. The food quality that we've received in our 3 cruises since the shutdown (Allure, Anthem, and Quantum) has been similar to what I remember before the menu changes. Fortunately we've still had good cuts of prime rib, tenderloin and strip steak. Maybe we're lucky. My problem is the reduction in choices, and the removal of some of the more signature app and entree's, as well as the addition of clearly lower cost options. I really miss the lamb chops for instance. Also gone are the scallops... Stuff like that. The fact that day one, fried chicken is the Chef's Recommendation is particularly telling. I've ordered it just to try it, and the portions are tiny and the way the cut the chicken parts is just odd.

Thanks for this. That's about the cheapest it gets in the cruise planner (not the gift section). I purchased the 12 pack of 1L bottles for $22.99 (plus grat). The gift section has it for $19.99 but I can't select my particular sailing. I'm happy with the $3 difference and knowing I'll have the waters.

I wish they offered Giovanni’s on day one for our embarkation lunch. That is what I much prefer for the same reasons. A very nice, relaxing lunch without the buffet madness.

True unfortunately. The bigger one did but “baby bridge” is still standing. It’s still pretty dang big IMO The one in my photo still stands. I was there last summer 2022.

McRib. Love it. Made me laugh out loud, sadly.

Question for those that cancelled and rebooked... Were the identical times available that you had before? Just wondering if Royal immediately frees up those slots and you can rebook them. I've worried that if I cancelled, and then tried to rebook, the timeslot I want would be gone. We're typically parties of 5 or more so the timeslots are limited and I would hate to miss out if trying to rebook. Thanks!

Kind of depends on what kind of excursions you like. We've been to Aruba twice. First time we did the Jolly Pirate's sail and snorkel (booked it 3rd party). It was fun but I think there are better options. Crew were great, and it was fun to be on a "pirate ship" but the snorkeling was just o.k. The second time we booked through Royal. We booked the Aruba Sea & See Island Tour Everyone in our group of 10 really liked this one. It's a bus/boat combo. It gives you a decent appreciation for the island as a whole, as well as some sightseeing (without having to snorkle). We started out on a bus and stopped at the lighthouse. Great view back to the main port and coast. Then we went to the rocky north coast. Then to some huge boulder formations that you can take stairs to the top of. Really cool. Then we boarded the SeaWorld explorer on which you go to the inside bottom of the boat It has windows and is below water level to see tropical fish/creatures and shipwreck. A third option is just to take a taxi to Eagle Beach. It's a relaxing way to have an inexpensive day at a beautiful beach. Here are some photos from the second excursion I mentioned

Thanks! I misread your comment. LOL My mind jumped to Giovanni's rather than Chops. We're on the June 6 sailing.

Same here, only day 2, but that's o.k. My parents are with us this cruise and they've never done a specialty lunch or dinner. I booked both (Dinner day 4). We may cancel one later when we decide which option works best. I wish they offered lunch more days. Day two is the first formal night with the Taste of France menu. Love the beef tenderloin that evening, so it might be weird if someone gets the filet for lunch and then turn around to have the same cut (although prepared differently) for dinner. Oh well. lots of options on the lunch menu. Thanks for the heads up on Giovanni's on the Liberty. Hopefully they get things resolved by June. 🙂

Not sure if anyone's mentioned it yet, but starting them in a Grand Suite is asking for trouble later. That's an awfully nice cabin and hard to follow-up with on subsequent cruises. Personally, I think both options are excellent. First cruise with the Wonder, and all it's bells and whistles, also may make it difficult to switch to a smaller ship in the future. However, I've said to friends many times, if you want to WOW someone with a cruise ship, do Oasis class. All in all, I'd probably lean towards Wonder, but would have NO PROBLEM recommending the Indy as well. Great ship.

Interesting indeed. Also, a question for those that may regularly eat at Giovanni's for lunch. I see they still list the filet mignon on the sample lunch menu. Is that still accurate or has it been removed for cost cutting? Typically we've booked Chop's lunch in order to get the filet, but if it's truly offered at Giovanni's still, that won't be necessary.

Was waiting for Black Friday because I was on the fence booking Giovanni's for our June Bermuda cruise on the Liberty. Giovanni's table for Lunch is now 35% off and Dinner 25% for our particular cruise, so $13.99 +grat for lunch and $35.99 +grat for dinner. Just FYI in case you were looking at Giovanni's. A nice little savings for our group of 6. Not sure if they are doing the same for Jamie's, as it's not on our ship.

We usually take 1.5 hours at least but our tables are usually 7-10 folks

Couldn't have said it better myself. Cheers

Love this map!! So many times there is more information than I want, or it just focuses on the eastern OR western Caribbean. I love that it's focused on cruise ports rather than just general geography. I'll be copying and saving, thanks.

Amen. Nowadays, you have a choice of the lesser of two evils. Do early dining at 5pm, or wait in a packed line that goes past the elevators for MTD. This past cruise in July, on the Quantum to Alaska, was particularly bad. The buffet and other eateries did not open for lunch until 12pm. Early seating is 5pm. So, you are lucky to get done with lunch by say 1pm, and then you need to turn around to get ready and eat early seating at 5pm. We weren't hungry yet by any means. They need to open for lunch at 11 or 11:30am if they are going to force early seating to be 5pm, or preferably do both, move lunch earlier and dinner back to at least 5:30. I made it clear in my survey that currently is a terrible way of doing it. The old way worked SO much better. Dedicated space in the MDR for MTD. Early seating was later, and you could prebook MTD for whatever times you wanted (as long as you did it well ahead of your cruise). Even if you didn't prebook you could show up at any time from the start of early seating until late seating. How is this new method saving time when folks with MTD are waiting 30 minutes or more before they even enter the MDR? Regarding your food review, the only thing that has me concerned is the comments about the quality of the cuts of beef. We were fortunate not to experience that in March and July (other than prime rib being overcooked in March), but if they are trying to fool guests with cuts that aren't as advertised, now we have a real issue.