MisterBill99

I don't feel like starting a yet another thread about Giovanni's Table so I'll ask my question here. How long does a typical meal take there? I'm on Oasis starting Saturday and was thinking of having dinner at Giovanni's the first night. I have show reservations at 8:30pm (RCCL kindly changed it from 9pm a couple of weeks ago). Will I be able to have dinner at Giovanni's Table at 6pm without feeling rushed? I guess we could try to eat at 5:30pm if necessary, or just eat there another night. I saw in an older thread someone talking about a 2.5-3 hour meal there.

Sorry for going off-topic :-).

You will probably be boarding between 11am and noon.

Thanks. That is what I figured. I think we'll leave for the port at 10:30,since they're about 15 minutes away in Hollywood.

I spoke with the presidents office about the lack of frozen drink menus. And it sounds like they are aware of it and they are not going to offer the menus on the ship. They suggested ask the bartender for drink ideas..

This sounds so bizarre

I've never seen a frozen drink menu on Royal Caribbean or Celebrity. Do other lines have them?

So, what time can Diamond (not Plus) members actually board? We're on Saturday's cruise and got email and phone calls yesterday with a schedule of when to show up. They told us 1:30 and apparently only Diamond Plus and above can board at 12:30 (Diamond did not quality, which really amazed me). Now, I know that the cruise line invariably gives times that are much later than reality and I was planning to be at the terminal no later than 11. How long am I likely going to have to wait to board?

Question... what are the charges like for Sabor? We are thinking of having lunch there on embarkation day. There are 13 of us including 7 kids. Is it going to break the bank?

You should be able to find a Sabor menu online. The prices are pretty reasonable. You can get a complete meal for around $20 and it's likely more than enough for 2 people to share for lunch, and the items are available a la carte. Of course, it depends how hungry you are. BTW are you sure they're open on embarkation? I don't know that I've ever heard of people doing that.

At least you were notified. I just found out on the roll call that someone received an email about the change. The show was changed to a different day where one show was already booked and I had very little time in between to get there. I just cancelled one of them. And because it's less than 2 wks prior, there are no other times available. When I called, I was advised to go and try to get a reservation onboard or just wait as standby. :(

That's what I figured would happen if I called. And then someone on my roll call thread basically told me I was wrong for saying I was going to bring it up at the M&M, saying I shouldn't complain. I certainly do intend to get an answer as to why they're doing this and let them know how it is impacting people negatively. Maybe I'll save it for the "top tier event", where I assume that senior officers will be present (assuming it's the same as Celebrity).

We saw Come Fly With Me at the Opal Theatre last night. It was a fabulous show and my photos are really not so great and don't do it justice!

Glad to hear it. sadly, that's the show that they just moved from 9pm to 7:30pm on me for my cruise in 2 weeks, which now conflicts with dinner. I guess I'll have a later dinner that night.

Did they move any showtimes on you? If so, did you ask why they're moving them around?

BTW who is the headliner show? Sorry if you already posted that.

I just got the emails last night for Come Fly With Me changing from 9:00 to 7:30. We are on the May 16 sailing. We also have early dinner. I was able to switch it to the next night. That was the only night we did not have anything booked so all was good. Sounds like a complete change of time for this show.

Lucky you. Much different when they change it for a cruise almost 3 months out vs one less than 2 weeks out after everyone has booked their shows. When I looked for other performance times to book, none were available.

Yes, in a RCL type of way. The Diamond Lounge has now been moved there from what had been its new location post dry dock on deck. It had been in part of a side wing of the dining room. With DD not being rolled out I understand that they reclaimed the dining room space on deck 4 for table area.

 

We were on Oasis in November and all continued changes were going forward at that point. Once DD dining was put on hold for the Oasis class ships, due to its poor implementation on Quantum, wonderland was scrapped.

Thanks for the detailed info. I was kind of hoping that they'd still open Wonderland since it's really just another specialty dining venue, and that it would be open for our cruise since DD was originally supposed to start the following week. On the other hand, we're Diamond for the first time this cruise, so I guess it works out well for us, other than not being able to try Wonderland. I guess I'll have to wait for Anthem.

Well, I guess I'll have to wait and see. If they do change the time at the start of the cruise, I can see a lot of people getting very confused with times when they're in port.

We're on Oasis on 3/7 and Daylight Savings Time starts that night. When will the ship switch over to DST? I checked the ports we're visiting, and none of them start DST that week (Nassau does the following week, St. Maarten and St. Thomas don't use it at all), so it seems like it does not make sense to switch before we visit the ports and confuse people.

I'm thinking it makes most sense to wait until a sea day after the ports towards the end of the cruise. I read in a Carnival thread that this was how it was handled on their cruise. How should I expect it to be done on Oasis?

Yes I will stop my complaining about this.

 

No I did not get the info wrong. I clearly remember the conversation and had written myself a note to keep checking prices as this is what I was told to do.

 

All is water under the bridge.

Yes, because the price dropped after the deadline (final payment) that even you admit you were told about. So it's not like it dropped before final payment and you might have had a valid argument if you had something in writing, which you say you didn't.

Common sense should tell you that they're not going to give everyone an extra 10% of the price difference if the price drops up until final payment is due.

Very intersting, Chef's Table has comeback. Maybe because Wonderland got the axe? It was not in the SL/CK in November. Now that the Diamond Lounge has taken over the old CL on both levels, Chef's Table had to go somewhere.

Wonderland got the axe on Oasis?? Has this been officially announced??

We had been on several Oasis cruises before that and there was never a problem with show reservations.That shows that whatever problem they currently have could be fixed.

It doesn't seem like they're just changing it for a couple of cruises due to problems, since people are reporting changes for cruises several months out.

Did anyone call to complain about this or try to reschedule? I doubt the people answering the phone would know why they made the changes. I'll be on Oasis on the 7th and will certainly ask.

On our November cruise they either cancelled or changed all of our shows. No email at all, 1 week before cruise, found out when I checked my reservation. I tried to rebook but most were sold out or at bad times. I called C&A they were extremely helpful and booked the days and times I wanted.

Are you a high level C&A by any chance? I had considered calling a couple of weeks ago when I realized I was closed out of all of the comedy shows to see if they could do anything, but it wasn't clear that "just" being Diamond would do anything. I should ask my TA.

What actually ticks me off though, is the fact I made all the entertainment reservations for the week for all four couples in our group over the phone with a rccl rep and now have to go back in and re-arrange everything. No explanation given in email for why they are changing show times either. Ugh!!!

I had a bit of a scare when I checked my show reservations tonight. I had made them online for the 4 of us across 2 reservations and I was pretty sure I had done it correctly. But when I opened the booking that my wife and her friend are on (we split the 4 of us by gender so we all get the Diamond discount), I did not see the names of my friend and myself on the calendar, although I did see them on one entry (for the character breakfast I booked while it was still free). Then when I tried to get into the reservation I was on, the system kept telling me that it was being updated. Finally I managed to get in and saved a copy of my schedule to a PDF file and did the same for my wife's reservation and compared shows and fortunately they matched. I do seem to have a second reservation for Oasis of Dreams on a different day for my wife and her friend, but I'm not going to cancel it at this point for fear of screwing something up!

They do it all the time. They even adjust times after boarding. Its SOP.

 

What they don't tell you is that day time shows are often added on sea days.

 

International travel always requires some adjustments on the travelers part

 

They do the best they can for the masses

What does international travel have to do with this? They make a big deal about scheduling your shows in advance, since most are now booked otherwise, then they pull nonsense like this at almost the last minute. I could not find any other showtimes available to book, even if I wanted to switch to another show. I looked at our schedule and realized that this is on the St. Maarten day, and we were planning to have lunch at one of the LoLo's in Grand Case and then head to Marigot for pastries, so I don't really mind having a late dinner (obviously not in the MDR at my normal table) that day. But I'm not sure sure that the friends we are traveling with will be as flexible.

I could see if this was a new ship and they were just getting things straightened out. But it's not. You want to rearrange schedules for cruises six months out where most people haven't even thought about making show reservations? Be my guest. But not this close to the cruise date.

I will be sure to bring this up at the Meet & Mingle. I will be interested in hearing their excuse.

I just got email from Royal Caribbean for my 3/7 Oasis cruise, saying that the show time of my Come Fly With Me reservation has been changed from 9pm to 7:30pm. How can they do something like this at this point? 7:30pm is going to mess up my dinner plans (we have early seating and don't want to be rushed). What could have changed on their end that would require this change? Now I'm going to have to go in and see if I can change to a more convenient show time, and a week before the cruise, who knows what is available. This really has me upset. Do they do this all the time??? It seems like if they're going to force you to make advance reservation for shows, they shouldn't start changing them at what is basically the last minute.

I had also gotten a notification a couple of weeks ago that my ice show reservation for the first night had changed from 9 to 8:30, but that wasn't as big a deal since we can still get there in time for the show without changing our dinner plans.

Your most economical choice is Trinityreservations.com at the Ramada Paza for $208 tax included with 14 days parking AND round trip port transportation.

For a 12 night cruise AND needing parking, I would recommend the Trinityreservations route, unless they really need to make a quick exit from the port to get home. Heck, I did it for a 12 night cruise a few years ago and I live an hour and a half from the port.

I dont think that 4.5 hours is enough time for this itinerary. I'm thinking that they probably will start with Maho and get there at 10:30 which is on the early side for Maho. If you stay for 45 minutes and leave at 11:15 and say get to Marigot at 11:45 and stay 1 hour that takes you to 12:45. By the time that you get out of Marigot and to Grand Case it's 1:15 already. That leaves you 30 minutes in Grand Case at the very most as it takes 45 minutes to get from Grand Case to the ship.

 

A taxi for two would be roughly $80 for this itinerary. These are all touristy places so getting taxis should not be an issue and you could spend longer at each stop if you would like.

So are you suggesting getting a taxi and having them take you to these places and wait, or use a different one for each leg? I'm concerned about being stuck somewhere waiting for a taxi -- that would be even worse than getting back late because I was driving.

I've rented a car in the past when we've visited St. Maarten but would rather have someone else worry about getting me back to the ship this time. I don't really care about the beach. I was thinking of maybe starting in Philipsburg and then going to Grand Case for lunch, Marigot for shopping and pastries and then Maho for the planes. I was thinking of maybe getting a cab in Philipsburg after shopping to take me around for the rest of the day. How much is that likely to cost? Will I find an available cab there willing to do the tour?

That is good news that Sabor is coming up on planner now. Previously only Izumi would come up there with the $0. They are still only allowing dinner reservations though.

 

As Izumi and Sabor both have lunch opening hours, a strategy to secure the 20% OBC would be to change those reservations to lunch time after boarding.

You can not cancel the reservations as the terms state that if they would have the right to remove the OBC if you do not dine at all 3 venues that qualified you for the OBC.

Funny story about Sabor reservations is that someone on our roll call thread posted that both it and Izumi were free for our cruise, so I rushed to make reservations, only to discover that the food wasn't actually free. I cancelled Izumi once I realized this but kept Sabor since the food sounds great.

I'd much rather get the 20 (or 30)% discount rather than getting OBC, so I'm thinking I will only make 2 reservations in advance and do the rest on-board. I'm not sure how busy 150 Central Park gets but I want to go on formal night so we can travel without our fancy clothes this time (Sabor is the other formal night), and want to make sure we have reservations.

On Celebrity, I bought their Ultimate Dining Package but had made a reservation online in advance because it was Valentines Day. I just cancelled the reservation once I got on board and got it refunded to my shipboard account, and rebooked it under the package. I'm hoping I can do the same thing in this case for 150 CP.

They have updated the Food and Beverage FAQs a little with the recent changes in DD.

 

There is another benefit to booking onboard. As the OBC offer is only available on venues you can book on your cruise planner in advance, onboard all venues can make reservations for lunch and dinner and this could mean the 'discount' is more widely available as reservations are available at all venues and times and not just those on the cruise planner.

 

For instance, you can not reserve Sabor prior to boarding.

Actually, I was able to make a dinner reservation for Sabor on Oasis for my March cruise. I guess I could always cancel and rebook my advance reservations while on board to make sure I get appropriate discounts.

But I still don't know what happens if I decided to make a last minute reservation that bumps me into the higher category. For example, if I really like Sabor and decide to go there for lunch on the last day.

Actually, I just went to the FAQ page and found this. Presumably I can still cancel and rebook on-board just to make sure I get the time I want.

What if I make three pre-cruise specialty restaurant reservations and then make additional reservations onboard?

A: Reservations made onboard will be considered towards the total number and a higher discount percentage will be applied for new reservations onboard. However, the higher discount rate will not apply retroactively for reservations made pre-cruise.

When you book on line you get the 20% off in OBC. When you book on board they give you the 20% off on your bill at the end of the meal.

 

If you make 2 on line you can make the third on board. Just make sure you point out to them that you now have 3 reservations. Sabor will get you 20% off of all your a la carte items excluding drinks.

Thanks... that is good to know about getting the discount rather than OBC if you book while onboard. Also nice to know that Sabor a la carte pricing is discounted.

Another question (I probably should look for another thread that discusses this, although the subject of this one seems to fit). What happens if I add other reservations later in the week. I don't get the higher discount retroactively, do I?

This also is a fantastic idea.. If we took the ships transportation, How far is Chef Mickeys from the drop off?

You can take the monorail from the T&TC (where the cruise bus will drop you off) to the Contemporary. I'm not sure if you need to show a ticket or resort id to ride the monorail, or if a reservation would suffice.

There are busses from the hotels to Downtown Disney. To park at a hotel you have to be staying there or have a dining reservation. They do not want theme park guests parking at DD for free. At one time you needed hotel ID to ride the busses to the hotels.

So have lunch at the Kona Cafe at the Polynesian and get their famous Tonga Toast (banana stuffed french toast) :-).

I did forget about needing id to park free at the hotels and possibly for the bus as well.