Cruise Raider

But not always .. I won’t go into it as this is not elated to sailings in Ft Lauderdale

Here is a photo someone was nice enough to let me take of their Vines charcuterie board and crudities while we were on the Ruby. The portion sizes on the Majestic were much larger, especially the crudities but they may have given us a double order.

I just saw this on Facebook from my CVP .. so it’s a reliable source if her account wasn’t hacked. Military and shareholder’s OBC is once again combinable. That is certainly good news for some of you!

If Ft Lauderdale still does this as before, you will all meet in a specific area on the ship and be taken off into the terminal as a group. You will again go through immigration and security and be seated as the first group to reboard the ship once it’s been cleared. It oftentimes only takes about an hour.

Shorter cruises definitely tend to have more people that have purchased the packages.

When we were on the Celebrity Infinity a number of years ago and they put a room service carts in the corners along each deck, both forward and aft, where passengers could place their dirty dishes in the corners. It worked out quite well as they were checked regularly. While it would never work on a Grand class ship, because there are really no corners, but this idea might work on a Royal class ship, as they have deep corners in the hallways.

Well, what they settle on may not be just that and it’s not up to you are me. When the premier package allows us 2 specialty dining meals per visit, we never expect to be able to share one meal … it’s charged by butts that are seated. When you go to a restaurant with a cover charge pp, that’s exactly how it is charged, per person. I won’t be outraged regardless of how they charge. What I do like is that I can still go in and order a la carte if I choose when I’m on the plus package or standard package.

We had the premier package so there was no issue. I really don’t know what we were charged but was attempting to find out for the sake of those with the plus package. I am not sure if it was a communication barrier or if they were trying to minimize any bad reviews, but the restaurant manager said we were ok. We were very well taken care of, BTW. there is no place on the app to let us know how many of our casual or specialty dining had been used,

That’s exactly where the confusion was. There was a substitution they wanted .. they were a bit perturbed because they were told they couldn’t substitute one type of sushi for another. There is definitely a learning curve right now. They ended up going to guest services and were not charged. it will all be ironed out, I’m sure ., but it may take some time.

As explained, we ordered two apps each and split a pizza. We weren’t charged for the extra app .. we declined dessert as we couldn’t even finish what we had ordered. No worries, I hate wasting food so we took the extra half a pizza to our room to finish it in the morning. Now, the price fixed menu states we can each order one starter, while we each had 2. Maybe it was just the restaurant manager that was there but he knew us well by the time we disembarked so towards the end of the cruise, they didn’t even have to ask for our cabin number, anyway, just trying to find out how it all works. BTW, we never went to the MDR for dinner once so, we were trying to figure out how it all worked so we could report back.

I certainly think that is the consensus. But we had friends that asked about changing up their order for sushi and were told there would be a charge, even though they had they also premier packages. So, there’s still a learning curve onboard. And, the only reason I asked about this at Alfredo’s is due to the interest here on these boards for those with the Plus package. But, the restaurant manager is the one that had to answer that for us … the waiter didn’t know.

Good to know. I think with e packages, it’s a flat out cover charge, which is what we were told on the Ruby at the Salty Dog. We usually just upgrade to the premier package and so wasn’t sure how it is really done and now glad to know. As of the moment, I think it might be dependent on which ship you are on.

We went on a cruise on the first cruise out on the Ruby after the changes were implemented. We had the old $50 package and it really wasn’t worth it for us to pay $200 to upgrade to the new plus package, especially since there was no Alfredo’s or GiGis onboard. Aside from that, we just paid the $14.99 once to activate the room service and paid extra for any nicer wines we wanted. It worked out to be much cheaper for us in the long run to hang onto the old package pricing. We did ask over at the GastroPub how it worked if two people wanted to share one price fixed meal, because honestly, that’s quite enough food for us in the evening. They said the price fixed meals could not be shared. But, keep in mind, this was day one. We just cruised on the Royal shortly afterwards and they had no problem with the $60 per day plus package. They had no issue in how we ordered while at Alfredo’s. We both wanted soup and salad and split one pizza (actually had to take half of it back to the room with us and it was perfect the next morning for breakfast). There were no additional charges. After that we cruised on the Majestic with the premier package. We asked them how it worked in terms of charging .. they said it would probably be all ironed out in a month or two. But, we could pretty much order whatever we wanted while having the premier package .. they knew us well. Contrary to what others have reported, the pizzeria was busy on both the Royal and the Majestic. The GastroPub on the Ruby was also busy, actually busier than before this change. we still got a seat so it was nice not having to wait in line but, they still had plenty of business to justify their decision. We met some others and they were told the sushi wasn’t included in their premier package but I can see on the Princess site that it is most definitely included. So, not sure what the deal was there but they ended up not getting charged for it. I think each ship is working out the kinks. Hopefully, it will be all settled quickly and there will be an across the fleet policy. And, at Vines, I was able to just get the crudities and a plate of cheese. That was nice as I don’t eat the charcuterie meats. Again, I think this menu item is meant to be shared .. although we had the premier packages, I think only was order would have been charged.

I know you can add gift cards to cover the charges on your folio, some of which might be casino charges.

We also ate at The Catch 3 times while on the Majestic. It was the most superb food I’ve ever had on any cruise, on any restaurant! I just spoke with a friend that disembarked from the Discovery today and she noted that Sur La Mer was still onboard as of today so, we may have to wait a bit to get a meal as good as that on the Majestic. In speaking with the coordinator for the cast of Dallas being onboard, he mentioned that the Discovery will be closing down Sur La Mer, Sabatini’s, across from guest services, will be moving up to deck 7, where Sur La Mer is currently located and the The Catch will be taking Sabatini’s venue. I was hoping it was already done, but no such luck. I used to love Sabatini’s menu but since they got rid of the sole piccata from their menu, I’m not so much a fan anymore. I loved their old menu so much! Sur La Mer doesn’t appeal to my SH, so, the Crown Grill it is, I guess. I just hope they offer lunch time meals at the Crown like they had on the Ruby as it’s hard for us to eat that heavy food later in the day. But, I certainly won’t starve to death by any means.

I am so loving your review, especially with all the photos and detailed information. I hope you both continue having a great time!

So, is this included as a casual dining meal in the packages?

Looks like the vegetable roll is still available on the bottom posted menu. I look forward to trying this out in the Discovery.

I stand corrected.

That room looks amazing! loving your review

For sure, I always do that now! And, like you, we just carry our luggage off the ship as well.

Someone next to us once always put their dirty dishes right in front of our door and I almost went flying when I stepped on a tray of dishes not expecting it to be there. They certainly weren’t our dishes .. maybe somebody thought they were ours and slid them back in front of our door. Don’t do that! You may not be teaching a lesson to the person you’ve intended. We either take our dirty dishes back to where to got them or call for a pick up. Now, there is a place in the app under ‘services’ where you can order your dirty dishes to be picked up. They never tell you to put them in the hallway.

they may have been a customized order.

Once we had a large group for a meet and greet and they changed the room once it was actually set to take place. The events and loyalty director simply put up a sign to direct people to the new room. As others have mentioned, once people see the schedule, they might have other priorities and so won’t show up. Even if they do, it can all be worked out once onboard. I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

We try to get there at 10:30 AM and usually have no waiting in lines. By the time you get through security and check in, the ship is usually ready for boarding.