HappyTexan44

Another option for filtering out the Cl, is Brita water bottles. They work on Florida's swamp water. so should work on a cruise.

Well, to be fair there is a Rome, Athens and Paris in Texas. One time on an international scuba forum, the purpose of which was to allow people to plan trips together since you need buddies, a few of us Texans were casually talking about a weekend trip to dive in either Paris or Athens, or maybe both the same weekend. Each town had a little scuba park. We knew what we were talking about. We blew the mind of some non-Texans.

Well, the Lysol did nothing against Noro. But the bleach should have killed it unless it was too diluted. Because I am an untrusting person, I don't believe that the rooms are deep cleaned between guests. My plan is to bleach-clean our rooms before anyone else enters. I also do a bedbug inspection in any hotel room.

I suspect availability of Fish Tacos has a lot to do with the proximity to fish. I've seen it in the Dallas area and I've had friends order it. They've always liked it, but I never bothered since it was always someplace where everything was really good. Fort Hood is closer to the coast than me but maybe not close enough. Me, I don't eat fish very often unless I'm near where they live and then I'll eat it every chance I can get.

I can see people who have easy-to-manage allergies having a huge problem. Gluten requires planning ahead because it hides. But often you can just say "And no onions" and then you are fine. For something like that, people wouldn't be used to having inform the restaurant ahead of time.

The bathroom.

Because outside of Mexico it is rare to find a non-American'ized 'Mexican' food. It can be found but it is rare. Outside of the Americas, a Mexican restaurant has a 98% chance of being Tex-Mex. If it isn't I can almost guarantee that the owners are from Mexico. Even then if you wanted to be picky you can't really speak of "Mexican food" since it varies so much. DH could give a dissertation on the differences. One of our new favorite places is Sal-Tex-Mex. Basically Salvadorian, with Tex thrown in to tell people there is Queso and Nachos, and Mexican because people recognize that over Salvadorian.

Our wagon has wide wheels and it worked well on the sands in Florida. Also when we go camping. The price was a little more. I can't comment on how well it work on a cruise ship. We do plan on bringing it, but won't be using it much. We'll use it during boarding and deboarding, and won't be moving around much with it even then.

And the kitchen in a regular restaurant isn't as large. Kitchens and restaurants are scalable. When they are serving meals to the same number of people every day this should NOT be a problem. They have more space and more people than a restaurant kitchen. Also, this not modifying is a new thing, they had the same number of guests before and the same size kitchen. It didn't suddenly get smaller. Now, maybe they are trying to get by with half the number of kitchen staff, and expecting me to eat rubber chicken because it was cooked 5 hours ago.

Well, in the middle ages people would have done back flips if you replaced their wheelbarrow with a cart. But you wouldn't be happy if I took your car and replaced it with a cart. When you pay good money to go on a cruise "You Won't Starve" or "Middle-Ages People Would be Happy" is not the expectation.

Well, removing the sides was the easiest of what I had been thinking about. I would have thought at minimum just refraining from putting something on a plate would be possible. Removing onions and/or peppers was my most common thought when I looked at the menus. At the moment my brain is stuck at MDR being like McDonalds in the 70's, and NOT a restaurant. As the MDR is with not-alterations-new-menu, it is less then WJ because at least there you get more selection, and it is also less than a Luby's because at least there you get your food at the right temp all the time (and you have more selection there too). Do Luby's still exist?

There are different levels of purification. You put a carbon filter on the water to your fridge, that is one level of purification. You put it through a Reverse Osmosis system, that is a whole other level of filtration. Distilled is a whole other level from that. Technically you are only supposed to put distilled water in the CPAP machine. DH uses RO water in his. It just eventually gets a white film on the water container.

This changes my attitude about the menu. I was assuming I could drop some things, like onions and peppers. I am glad my cruise isn't for a year. My thought is that the no alterations rule will cause a mutiny and they will back off on that. I suspect that I am at the young end (52) of the age curve here. Remember when McDonald's wouldn't modify any item? And then in the mid-70's, Burger King came out with "Have it your way." After that even McDonald's was forced to modify. Then between that and "Where's the beef?" McDonald's lost their market domination. Eating in the MDR is a part of my image of the Cruise Experience. We planned on eating there every night. This will be our Starter Cruise. The no-substitutions rule would have been enough to cause me to find another line. I've booked the cruise using non-refundable fares, unfortunately.

For those that go to the pool deck and 'set up a nest.' How is that with your carry-on with you? Does your carry-on get splashed? Does anyone mess with it? We'll have 4 bottles of wine (two rooms), a 12-pack (or two) of Diet DP, CPAP, plus normal stuff including swim suits. So I thought we'd bring our folding wagon, and all four of us put our carry-ons in there. We aren't big drinkers and we'll have teen girls, so bars are out. We won't hoard a table in the WJ for obvious reasons. Hanging out by the pool and starting off with swimming sounds awesome. We won't have the Key, and I'll get us the earliest boarding. (I've been trained by Disney on snagging the best times)

I wonder if they will at least allow you to leave stuff off? For example, looking at the menus I can see myself removing the sides in order to have room for dessert.

@ValerieJo Had asked this and no one else answered. "Why is there Indian food on French Night, Mexican Night, Caribbean Night, Mediterranean Night, etc. taking up valuable menu space?" The reason is that it is crew food. That is why there was always a secret Indian food option before. That also explains that while I really like Indian food, I won't be ordering it. They seem to be offering the cheaper options. @Engineroom Snipe "RCI, take notice, a few cents on a few shrimp can be a turning point. A decision to vacation elsewhere is never based on one or two individual points but they add up to a decision to spend money on other experiences." There is an official name for this. Trust Thermocline. I think Disney is there. Maybe booting Cheap-Ek will mean they have avoided that point, maybe not.

This to me is the reason to send the request to guest services ahead of time. If you didn't tell them ahead of time, and they ran out, well then Too Bad So Sad. But since you did, that is on them.

Are there penalties for cancelling a reservation? Maybe book something for every night and then cancel once they update the menus.

When I looked up the date for 2024, I landed on an article about how much of problem the date will be next year. New Orleans has the Super Bowl, and it is the same weekend as Fat Tuesday. I lucked out there too. New Orleans, being within driving distance was an option. I might have totally scheduled a cruise to leave from there during Mardi Gras.

Those are awesome. This in European Crossroads near NW Hwy in actual Dallas, not merely the Dallas area. If you'd never been, it was a neat idea just placed in the wrong place. An outdoor mall, before outdoor malls were a thing. But you parked outside and then within the area it was walking-only with theming of old European towns. We have no problem taking the nice car to Plano. : )

For us, we will have our teen daughter and her friend. So, I'd like a table for just the four of us. Meals are our time to reconnect. Also, we might be having teen-girl discussions that you don't want to be apart of. I'll save my social time with strangers when I'm sharing my extra Sangria by the pool with the nice person in the chair next to me.

My only gripe now about the menu is that my favorite pasta, cheese tortellini is on lobster night. My cruise is 5-nights and I don't think the cruise before or after is any longer. So, they won't have that on the ship, I do still think I'll be modifying what I order.

That reminds me. When I was a teen we loved a really good German restaurant in Dallas. A crappy area of Dallas. We never drove mom's car there (the nice one). Now, when we go to the Texas State Fair, we don't drive my beloved touring Cadillac, we drive the spare car, a 2000 PT Cruiser. I think the dividing line is how likely is something to happen to your jewelry on a cruise? And where is your comfort level? Me, I know hotel room safes aren't worthwhile. I've never been on a cruise, but I've read it is super easy and quick to get someone else to open the safe if you forget your code. So, I think they are about the same. Someone who never takes their ring off, they'll be safe because the rings never leave the finger. Me, I like to maximize my time in the water and I'd have them off except for dinner anyway.

My engagement ring would be very hard to replace. I remember I once thought that I lost it at a water park and I felt ill. It was safe at home. But I felt so stupid until I found it where it belongs at home. I'm not a huge fan of the wedding ring, and it was precisely as a I wanted. An eternity band that hurts a little sticking into my other fingers. My college ring was stolen once in a hotel room, since then I've gotten in the habit of not taking any jewelry I'd mind losing.

Well, in my case it DH's priorities. With the wedding, I just didn't want to know who would rather watch a game on TV than attend my wedding. Ignorance can be bliss. I actually have no complaints in that regard. But, on vacation things might be different.