DukeASUGirl

I would contact the Shore Excursions department and ask them. Explain that you need to know where to book the hotel, given that super-early hour.

All these people who say that cruising is a "special occasion" and thus you should dress up...for me and my husband, it's pretty darn special not to have to work. So we don't want to dress like we're at work.

My group was 6, so definitely not a very large group. But it was two linked cabins, and even though I thought I had linked us in Cruise Planner on the website (it showed that I had), when we got on the ship, my App had the reservation for 4, but my parents' didn't have anything.

So we went to the maitre d' that afternoon and they fixed it for us. It was fine by the time we got to dinner that night.

But it's much easier to switch a table for 4 to a table for 6. Quite a bit more complicated to get three tables for 8 right next to one another, because you're going to change everyone else's tables if it wasn't already set up. So I would definitely call in and speak to someone in advance.

I can only speak to Navigator, but 5 or 5:30 pm was too early for me, and 8 pm was too late for me. So I made a standing reservation for 6:45 pm every night for MTD, and I got the same waitstaff and same table every night.

On Nav, there was a 5 pm Early seating on 3rd floor, 5:30 pm Early seatings on 4th and 5th floors, MTD from 6:45-9 pm on 3rd floor, and am 8 pm Late seating on 4th and 5th floors.

As we were leaving dinner (generally around 8 pm most nights, but it was closer to 9 pm on Lobster Night), there were always a small number of new guests trickling in on 3rd floor for MTD. So yes, I would imagine you could make a standing 8 pm MTD reservation.

1 hour ago, not-enough-cruising said:

So, using your rationale, since I am white collar and dress up every single day, I should take this opportunity to dress a little more casual and relax and enjoy myself.

This is 100% my husband's POV. He is an attorney, so the last thing he wants to do on vacation is dress like the office or court.

5 minutes ago, Tatka said:

You are joking about floor lengths of table clothes? 
 

I just went back and checked my photos, and you are correct. It isn't floor length - looks to be about a foot betwen bottom of tablecloth and the floor. But my point still stands - you would have to be really looking to see what type of shoes people are wearing under the table.

Seriously, who stares at other people that closely? I spend my time caring about my dining companions and my meal, and couldn't care less about the others in the dining room. 

Really, it's quite creepy.

5 minutes ago, Tatka said:

If you wear crocs to MDR then it’s not me, but you making yourself looking bad. If you are experiencing joy when people feel uncomfortable next to  you then I feel for you. Talk to healthcare professionals.

Okay, I'll bite. Why would anyone feel uncomfortable if someone else is wearing Crocs?

Personally, I hate Crocs. I find them incredibly tacky and ugly, but I know loads of people like them. What difference is it to me what someone else wears? Seriously, I don't get it.

Not to mention...there are floor-length tablecloths covering the tables, so how would I even be able to see what the person sitting at the table next to me is wearing?

On 5/26/2023 at 11:44 AM, oggy6 said:

If we do MDR at 7:45, would we be able to make it to a 9:15 Seasons Ice show?

If we had a particular show time we wanted to attend, we simply let the waitstaff know so they could meet our time constraint. This generally meant that they shaved a few minutes off of every step (returned to take our order sooner, brought the main course as some were still finishing up their apps, etc), but we always made it.

That being said, Lobster Night tends to be the most crowded in the MDR, so it's also the slowest. Is there a 7 pm ice show you could attend instead?

On 5/25/2023 at 6:00 AM, njkruzer said:

Almost always due traditional  /fixed time.  Like having the same wsit staff every night who know our preferences.   

We created our own fixed time during MTD on our cruise a couple of weeks ago. 5 pm was too early, and 8 pm was too late, so we did a standing MTD reservation for a party of 6 for 6:45 pm, and had the same table with the same waitstaff every single night.

Just now, Ourusualbeach said:

I was replying to a question about cruise line insurance, not other companies. 

Yes, and I was responding to say that while it would be too late to get Royal insurance, the outside companies allow it closer to sail date.

Are your dining companions such a bore that you find yourself looking at what others are wearing instead of enjoying their company and a nice meal?

7 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

Has to be prior to final payment or immediately upon booking if booking after final.

We booked our travel insurance for what should have been our October cruise, 6 days before the cruise was supposed to occur. Then 3 days before, the airline canceled our flight due to the hurricanes and Royal allowed us to take a Future Cruise Credit instead, so we just rolled the insurance over to the replacement cruise.

But my point is that it was WELL after the final payment was due, and like 8 months after we'd booked. 

We used Allianz.

22 minutes ago, CruiseMelissa said:

I have more tender questions...

1. If you get to the distribution and they're currently handing out group 4, can you ask for a later group like 12?  Or do you have to take the next availabile?

 

2.  Somewhat similarly, when they call those with tender ticket 8, does that mean anyone with tickets 1-8 or just 8 and if you had an earlier # you are out of luck? 

We got to the distribution area 4 minutes after it began, but I was already Tender group 23 by that point because apparently people had been lined up waiting for more than 2 hours. I kid you not.

Anyway, at least on our cruise, but they literally didn't even check the tickets at all when it came time to board the tenders. They called 3 groups at a time, and all they did was scan your Seapass. And if you missed your slot, you just went when you could. Like if you were in the bathroom when they called Groups 7, 8, and 9, you could just go when they called Groups 10, 11, and 12.

On 6/8/2023 at 6:17 AM, ETski said:

We are bringing two teenage grandsons on a cruise this summer. Since the boys don't have a lot of dress clothes would they be able to wear nice shorts to the dinningroom? 

I think the only time my husband ever wore pants in the dining room was formal night, and even then it was just khakis. He literally wore shorts every night, and nobody cared or said anything. And he was hardly the only one.

My 11-yr-old never even wore pants on formal night - khaki shorts was about as dressy as he got.

2 hours ago, poocher said:

Gotta know what butter & bulletproof coffee mean??

Stir in butter or coconut oil instead of cream/half and half. Apparently it helps keep you fuller, so you eat less. I think it's a keto thing, or something like that. 

I don't know. It sounds gross to me.

I don't drink coffee. Dad drinks it black. Husband has recently switched to butter to make "bulletproof coffee" and he never had trouble just using the butter dishes in the MDR. My mom usually ordered tea most nights, but the couple of nights she ordered coffee and asked for cream, she had no issue getting cream.

In fact, on the nights when she ordered tea, and it was just the men ordering coffee, they had to tell the waiter to take away the cream since they wouldn't be using it.

We disembarked Navigator about a week and a half ago.

Ain't no way I'd spend $200/person for tickets to a waterpark when there is literally an entire island and beaches for free. Even if there wasn't a beach, ain't no way I'd ever spend $200/person for waterpark tickets. I won't even spend that much for a season pass.

On 5/30/2023 at 7:32 PM, DukeASUGirl said:

We figure it's probably still coming, but have no idea. We do need that paperwork so we can submit to insurance.

We have been off the ship for a week and a half now, and still no bill for the medical center. Very odd.

On 6/3/2023 at 3:43 PM, Mum2Mercury said:

The library, really?  In my experience, that's always empty.  If I've ever been in the card room, I've forgotten.    

On Nav, it's a combined library/card room, and it was surprisingly full on sea days, but then again it was chilly for 2 out of 3 sea days so while the pool deck was always full, so were the indoor spaces.

5 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

I'm glad everything worked out ok and your daughter was fine.  How much did they charge for the medical visit?

No clue! I signed paperwork acknowledging that there would be charges (although it never said what), and the nurse said that the invoice would be sent to our cabin (and we assumed added to our onboard account), but nothing ever arrived before we disembarked. We've received the "final statement" via email and it didn't include it, either.

We figure it's probably still coming, but have no idea. We do need that paperwork so we can submit to insurance.

My dad brought his own, but after the first night, the waiter just started opening it for us and we never got the corkage fee.

On 5/17/2023 at 8:35 AM, feeloftheocean said:

Thank you all for the feedback. In our previous cruises, we have always prioritized being punctual for our assigned dining time, typically around 6 PM, and we truly appreciate the unique experience of enjoying the Main Dining room service that distinguishes cruises from other types of vacations.

We did My Time Dining this past week, with a standing 6:45 pm reservation - got our same waiter/assistant and table every night. It worked for us - Early was just too early for us (5 pm on Deck 3, or 5:30 on Decks 4 and 5) and Late would be too late (8 pm).

Since we had the standing reservations, we never waited to be seated. Actually, I stand corrected - the only time we waited was when we took a chance and arrived at 6 pm (to see if it would be possible to get in early), and we waited for like 2 minutes for them to find a table for 6 that the Early Dining folks had no-showed.

29 minutes ago, DukeASUGirl said:

 

Okay, that is really good to hear! My husband hated San Pedro so much he doesn't want to sail Royal out of CA anymore and would rather do Carnival out of Long Beach, but if there are improvements in the works that could change things. I liked Carnival - don't get me wrong. I just liked Royal better, and he agreed on all points but San Pedro. Haha

But maybe this is a moot point, because the kids have requested "can we please do somewhere else besides Mexico?" (Both cruises they've been on have been Mexico, as well as a couple of beach vacations.)

2 hours ago, Tntt said:

 

7. Compares to caribbean cruises are Alaskan cruises worth the cost?

 

My Alaska cruises have been on Princess and NCL so I can't speak to RCL, but there is absolutely no comparison. You really can't compare. They are two completely different itineraries.

I will say that I've done Eastern Caribbean once, Western Caribbean once, and Alaska twice. And want to go back and take the kids. So...there you go. Obviously I think it's worth it, and prefer it to Caribbean, despite the cost.

2 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

It's good to hear that someone else had the same experience I did.  We ARE pool people, but we go up and stay a while, so I don't mind having to go up in the elevator.

Being from Arizona, we found it quite chilly sailing out of LA, thus my parents never venturing to the pools. I did the waterslides and Flowrider a few times, but mostly stayed in the hot tub if I was up on deck. Never laid out because, well, I'm from Arizona. LOL