rudeney

3 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

But food is only one aspect of why, in my unbiased opinion, the term 'good buffet' is an oxymoron. The other is the 'dinning experience'. For me, the MDR, for all it's faults, is a better dinning experience overall. At least in the MDR, I won't experience some glutton bumping into my chair, which took me 20 minutes of searching to find, and spilling the overloaded contents of this plate all over me. At least the professionals deliver the overloaded plates to the gluttons in the MDR and don't tend to spill the contents.  

 

 

That is definitely true!  

I wonder if someone is spoofing the "qemailserver.com" return address, because that does belong to Qualtrics.  The problem is, I receive these surveys for popular companies (HP, Microsoft, Home Depot, etc.) regularly, and whenever I click on the link, Google Chrome tells me it's unsafe and it goes to some very strange website - not Qualtrics.  Because of that, I have blocked qemailserver.com.  I really wish that companies who use 3rd party bulk mail and survey services would have then send from their own corporate URL.  This is easily done - I have used of these services and set them up to send from my company URL so my customers know it is legitimate.  In today's world where The Internet is so full of scammers, I'd think most companies would want to make sure they are being obviously legitimate.

Yep, ignore the "sale" and "BOGO" crap - it's just marketing hype.  Pick the package you want and add it to your cart to see the actual per-person /per-day price.  The best I got for our Voyager cruise 4 weeks ago was $65 during the "Memorial Day Sale", but if often fluctuated between $75 and $65. 

It is a scam.  They use that same return address to  send out fake survey emails from various popular companies.  Just junk it.

On Voyager a few weeks ago, less than half the crew was masked and few passengers.  During the All-Access tour we took, they pretty much told us they no longer had special quarantine decks and if guests test positive with no serious symptoms, they are asked to self-quarantine.  We did see a few packed elevators at peak times, and shows were 75% or more filled, but other than that, it felt very un-crowded.  

3 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

For me the term 'good buffet' is an oxymoron. But that's just my unbiased opinion. 😉

I think it depends on what you choose to eat.  If I'm looking for a steak or properly prepared eggs, then it's not good.  Roasted meats that are carved to order tend to be very good - no different than what I'd expect in a decent table-service restaurant.  Fruits and most vegetables are good, too, but I have to qualify that in saying that those of us from The South are used to mushy, over-cooked vegetables..  Seafood is a mixed bag - cooked fish is not very good at all, but crustaceans are usually decent unless overcooked, but that can happed at a table service restaurant, too.  Pasta, as long as it's served with noodles separate from the meats sauces, is often good.  Of course non of it is as good as a "good restaurant", but I don't find the MDR food to be any better, and often times it's not as good because it can be lukewarm by the time it makes its way to the table.  At least they keep the buffet foods at good temperatures.  

13 hours ago, Broons77 said:

 

We noticed the same thing on our recent trip on Voyager about the restaurants being only partially full.  It appeared to be a staffing issue to me rather than demand.  When we boarded the ship around 11, we checked in at muster and went immediately to make reservations and Chops was already pretty booked.  According to the crew, they were going to be picking up additional staff once they made it down to PR next week.

Interesting.  We had originally planned for Chops at lunch on embarkation, Giovanni's for dinner, then alternating between the two except for one night at Izumi and one in the MDR or Windjammer.  When we found that Chops was not open for embarkation lunch, we had to change the pattern.  Then later on, we decided we wanted more Chops and less Giovanni's and we had no problems doing that.  I will mention that we were in a GS so we pre-booked all the dining reservations and had the concierge make our changes.  I don't think that mattered, though, because all he did was call the maitre de at Chops and have him make the changes, and while the concierge can sometimes do a little magic, but they can't create seats where there are none.  We tried to get the Chef's Table (I didn't book in advance) but could not.  

The tour we recently took in Bar Harbor, ME listed w weight limit of 300lbs.  It was on a  "limo shuttle bus" with 14 seats that were very comfortable, but slightly narrower than the tour bus seats.  I assumed the weight limit was to prevent larger passengers from taking up two seats.  

I know missing the tour was disappointing, but I agree with @Biker19 - you were refunded, and that's the best they are going to do.  At least they did that.  

6 hours ago, oliver9 said:

How busy was Chop when you dined there? is it a full-house during your 4 dinners? I just bought a 3-night dining package on my next cruise (would try at least chops 2x) , and I hope I can book on my preferred time slot.

None of the three specialty restaurants on Voyager were ever full.  Chops was never more than 2/3 full, but I am not sure if that was because it wasn't booked, or if they were short-staffed and had all the guests they could accommodate.   Giovanni's tended to be more crowded - it was usually near capacity with only a few open tables.  I never saw many people in Izumi.  I guess its lack of hibachi made it less popular.  We did changed reservations a few times and never had a problem with that, so hopefully you will get what you want.  Just go to the first specialty restaurant you see when you board and make your reservations. 

I have come to realize the the MDR serves "banquet food".  It's not bad, but it's not cooked to order.  You get served from large pre-cooked batches.  Some foods taste just fine like that, others do not.  We have taken some "behind the scenes" tours and the galley operations are truly amazing.  But "amazing" doesn't always equate to "delicious".  The Windjammer food is prepared the same way, but being able to choose your own items makes it different.  On our last 7-night cruise, we had Izumi one night, Giovanni's one night, Windjammer one night, and Chops four nights.   Honestly, we could have eaten at Chops all 7 nights and would have been perfectly fine.  

15 hours ago, Rysyonok said:

 

 

- "Can I write down your name so I can mention you on the survey" makes things so easy it's not even fair 🙂

 

 

 🤣🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣

3 hours ago, blueslily said:

I saw on a video yesterday that the 3 Dinner Package is not really limited to just dinners. It was said to be three meals which means you can use it for lunches or dinners. On here and in the planner everyone says dinners. So, is it true that it can be used for a lunch, not just dinners? Just checking. Thx

It very well might be accepted for lunch, but I wouldn't do that.  It would make it much less valuable.  You could pay for dinner and two lunches in Chops for less than the 3-meal package.  

Earlier this month, they were serving water in typical plastic bottles.  I don't recall the brand, but I don't think it was one I recognized.  The tap water tasted fine to me, though we did get bottles because we had the DBP and it was convenient to grab them to take back to the room for the nightstand, on excursions, etc.  BTW, to get bottled water at the bars with a beverage package, they don't even swipe your card - you just show them that it has the beverage package codes on it and they will hand you a couple of bottles.  Oh, and we did the All-Access Tour where we found that the tap water is created through reverse-osmosis and the source is from drain water as well as sea water.  Yes, that's right - they extract 99.9999% pure water from "used" water aboard the ship! 

On 10/25/2022 at 9:40 PM, emeraldcity said:

Frankly, I was disappointed in the food. It was hit-or-miss throughout the cruise. Some things were really great ... others unfortunately overcooked. So are they still pushing tuna like they got a great deal on a warehouse full of the stuff? The cafe had tuna sandwiches nearly every day ... sometimes two different varieties. And the WJ invariably had a tuna dish.

 

So sad they still have the Franki Valli guy. What a colossal disappointment. The way he mashed up songs was unfortunate and the long introductions, accompanied with prancing around the stage was pretty dull. I kept thinking he simply didn't have enough material to fill the allotted amount of time. As long as he stuck with Four Seasons songs, it was enjoyable, but I don't think half of the ones he did were theirs. (One of our group thought that perhaps there was a copyright issue that limited how much he could use from The Jersey Boys.) And yes, the rap number was ill-conceived. And as I recall, he closed the show with Build Me Up Buttercup ... the show closer should have been a Four Season song ... but that's just me.

We were on Voyager the first of the month.  My take on the food is that it was very good, but we never at in the MDR - we did UDP and all specialty restaurants, mostly Chops. We did go to the Windjammer once for dinner and most days for breakfast and it was good.  

Also, we enjoyed Frankie and The Dreamers.  Yes, Ryan Malloy is a bit obnoxious, and I'd probably have preferred more traditional Four Seasons songs, but I thoroughly enjoyed their rendition of "Working my way back to the Windjammer"  The rap song - not so much.

21 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Bars and Cocktails

Schooner bar which is always my favorite was a disappointment. Only because it was so crowded most night I could never get a seat. And the poor piano player had to suffer while most were watching the Astros game instead of him. Bartenders were ok but not a lot of personality. I did not connect with anyone. Most disappointing was the liquor selection. You know I'm a bourbon guy. There was no Makers, no Four Roses, no Elijah Craig, no Woodford Reserve, and others. Clearly Symphony got the love not Liberty. They did have Buffalo Trace and Templeton Rye which satisfied me. In the pool bar I did notice a lot of light pours for the alcohol.

 

I experienced all the same on Voyager - Schooner was packed, poor selection, many dull bartenders, and light pours.  The exception was the VK lounge.  They didn't have a better selection, but the bartenders were great and pouring generously.

20 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Oh I forgot.

 

Internet

This was my first experience with Star Link. When it worked it was great. What do I mean? From time to time in different locations on the ship, my Liberty-Guest Wi-Fi on my phone would show no connection. I found myself more than several times a day having to reconnect to the server. I don't know if this is as someone suggested Starlink switching from one satellite in the sky to another or something else. Sometimes when I would upload a photo to CC it would take a few seconds others would stall out. Could it be a CC thing? I don't think so because I don't experience this at home.

 

Also most videos from my phone would never upload, they would stall out. I had better luck uploading video to You Tube and then posting a link. In the end it was a vast improvement from before. I don't think I could have even done a live review had it not be for Starlink. I'm confident that with time they will work out any bugs and it will get better.

I think the problem is not Starlink, because I have the same issue with Voom.  I believe that the wifi access points they use on the ships (at least the older ones - I have no experience with Oasis or Quantum class) is not a true "mesh" system and doesn't hand-off well when you move around.  I found myself switching my device's wifi off and back on each time I relocated to get a decent signal.  

I also had issues uploading to CC (no video -just pictures).  What started doing was just taking a screen shot of the photo which cut the file size down tremendously and it would work better.  With Voom on Voyager, the upload speeds were actually much faster than download, which seems to be typical of satellite Internet service.

On the Oct 2nd sailing, Chops was not open for lunch on embarkation day.  I was told by the Chops staff that on Voyager, they use Chops as overflow seating for the Windjammer on embarkation day, so Giovanni's is the lunch venue that day.  Even though Chops was not open, its still showed it on the app.  If you don't care which restaurant you eat lunch in, then I'd just stop by Giovanni's when you embark and verify which will be open and that your reservation is in place.  

Thanks for sharing, Greg!  I love going along with you.  I hope the shoulder gets better for you soon.

6 hours ago, Tree_skier said:

Navigator.

Partition door on Navigator can be opened.  They are exactly like the ones on Freedom.  

9 hours ago, slyster said:

 

I am booking a suite on Allure.  Is the suite section far and out of the way of the pool area or is it easy and accessible to get to.  I always thought they were out of the way?

Not sure about Allure, but on Freedom and Voyager class it's a tiered section right there at the pool bar:

12 hours ago, marci22 said:

Concierges are extremely variable. Usually, we have had very good experiences where they at least try, and we always tip for the service. Last cruise I asked two questions and both times, 'try guest services'. No tip.

Same on our last cruise - I asked about Chef's Table reservations and his response was "You can book that in the app."  

5 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Let’s clear up some confusion. A lot of people get confused when dining in the MDR to what line they need to be in . Basically there are two lines with My Time Dining,  One line is with people with reservations and the second line is for people without reservations.

 

But here is the way to bypass all that. Make a reservation for the first night and tell the manager at the podium that if you like your table and waiters you would like to stick with them all week.

 

In our case we got a two top table by the window and our wait staff was excellent. We expressed desire to have the same reservation every night, same time and same table. They book it for you and told us to bypass both lines and go past the two front podiums to the second set inside the dining room. We check in and then we escort ourselves to our table. Easy peasy. This is the way to dine in the MDR.

Years ago, back when MTD was initially being introduced, this is exactly what we did.  It worked as it should - it was "my time", not "RCCL time".  Instead of choosing 5:30 or 8:00, we did 6:30 each night, same table, same wait staff. It worked quite well.  

So here's the solution to this problem.  Go up to the pool deck during the late MDR seating.  No one will be there so you will be free to do this.  Grab a deck chair, and take it back to your room.  Yeah, for those in inside rooms, it's going to be a tight fit, but it will be worth it.  The next day, take it with you back up to the deck.  Problem solved.  

5 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

Thanks, we are loving it. Maybe the drain in the middle is all the rage now? 🙄  

Apparently a center drain is the rage.  I remodeled our master bathroom last year and replaced the old "Jacuzzi" tub with a free-standing soaker tub.  Just like @#55worktoplay found, all new tubs have the drain in the middle.  This was one of the most time-consuming parts of the project - cutting through the slab to relocate the drain.  It looks fancy, but yep - sit in the tub and your butt presses the drain release!  

It looks like someone dropped a Six Flags on top of a barge.  No thanks.

3 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Remember These????????

 

 

I remember my parents taking me on a vacation cross country.

 

We stayed at one of those road side motels with the colorful neon signs along Route 66. The motel’s bed had one of the massage beds and for a quarter the bed would vibrate for about 10 minutes. My brother and I convinced Dad to drop in a quarter to try it. We never giggled so much in our lives.

...

I slept like a baby last night. The gentle vibration from the ships engines and the slight rocking from the sea put this Sea Dog in heaven. I completely forgot about the pain in shoulder. And hey I didn’t have to put in a quarter!

 

 

 

We bought an adjustable bed frame from Sam's Club that includes vibration - no quarters needed!  I can't go to sleep without it.  Of course the motion and engine vibration on the ship is a suitable substitute.