HappyTexan44

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.

Wooo, I dodged a bullet. The football schedule was not on my radar when I booked our cruise for next year. I scheduled our wedding around the football schedule. Next year's Super Bowl will be a week later, Feb 11, and we depart Feb 19. Also before March Madness.

I guess if there is no need to show ID, it will be better for those of us who worry to show up on the early side so as to be there as they put out our time slot's luggage. I will forever think of that white house official when I think of luggage thieves. Also, even if they don't steal anything worth any money, it still really stinks to have your luggage stolen. It happened to me once in Barcelona, Spain. For the next couple of years I kept reaching for certain clothing pieces then to realize they were gone. You take your favorite things on vacation. ETA: I still mourn the less of those bright-red, wide-whale corduroy bermuda shorts.

The dog looks like it would be tasty. Although, even then it is probably Crisco frosting. Maybe ask beforehand if it will be a fondant frog and if so, cancel. I think I'd have removed the cupcake paper on the dog. The frosting on the bottom looks pretty, but I'd get it all over myself removing the paper.

I can understand not wanting to hand over your luggage to other people. I've had stuff stolen by airport baggage handlers. Even if it isn't a $$$$ something, it can be annoying, for example, to arrive in Taiwan and not have sunglasses. I also can not stand to turn my luggage over at a hotel. I had one turd in Germany slam my suitcase down right in front of me breaking my Czech crystal vase. He did that because I asked him to be gentle with it. That said, we'll be checking our luggage both directions on the cruise. I imagine the odds of petty thefts to be lower than say on a United flight. I think we'll also do the zip-ties.

Well, darn, I had thought that the Voyager offered this class. But I wasn't interested. Thanks to this thread I am interested. Just now I double-checked and I don't see it on the list of activities.

Could you tell me more about the sushi class? My daughter loves sushi but only particular kinds. So if the class was "We will now all make Eel sushi" she'd be disappointed. But if they had an array of ingredients, and some recipes, and sushi instruction that would be good. Actually she doesn't fall far from the tree, I'd happily eat several varieties of just shrimp sushi.

Or even just didn't hear because he was in the conversation and was focused on his friend. I don't know why, but I normally don't hear things from behind me. I've always been that way.

For home use, if you use the co2 cartridges it is pretty pricey. But we use a co2 tank. Amazon has a cable that connects the tank to the Sodastream. You can get the tanks from Lowe's. The price for a really large tank that lasts us many months is $25-$35ish. Maybe the OP could mention that idea to her niece and just bring a cable? I had been pondering the idea for price, but the soda cans were just so darn convenient. I had to give up nutrasweet when I discovered that I was addicted. Anything that wasn't air or water that made me feel that crappy when I went without, couldn't have been good for me. Getting sodas wasn't a problem, though, since Diet RC and Coke Zero both used Splenda. Then the lockdown happened. Diet RC disappeared and Coke Zero switched to Nutrasweet. Everything on the soda aisle was made with either corn syrup or nutrasweet, except for Zevia which tastes bad. Even the sugar sodas disappeared for a long time. So, we got the sodastream and I adore it. I've also made some syrups. That is still an ongoing process. The recipes out there fall into two audiences, the super-natural where you use fruit juices and maybe stevia, or those that want to use sugar syrup. So I modify. One try at Diet Coke ended up tasting like a Mountain Dew and Fresca had a child. Then I discovered that Sodastream has a Diet Orange! Diet and Orange together and tasting good. We taken it on road trips using the canisters. In the future, I'll probably just bring my syrups and buy sparkling water.

Except for the coconut part. : ) They do seem to have shrimp on the menu often, and not just the cocktail. That was what tipped me over into thinking the new menus were a positive.