north29

I/we really do not want to wait for the second dish.......... But we do not worry toooo much about the quality/taste of the dish, we do not expect every dish to be to our liking and we are never truly hungry anyway.

 

Having said that, FISH, is one thing we do send back and let the server know aheads of time, that if it is not right, we will send it back. I, somehow think that they appreciate the notification, and always seem to check back quickly to see if we like it or not. Unfortunately,I will say that more often than not the fish will be sent back for a second try, and have even seen three times before giving up.

PS we know fish, by having all the fish we could eat all our lives.

I would be surprised if they could even keep a small dining room requiring formal every night filled each evening.

 

Many people celebrate special occasions on cruise ships, and many just like to dress elegantly, not us, but we dress very well. I can see, depending on the size of the dining venue and PRICE up charge, and not counting on the average formal diner to pay for it, a formal venue might very well be a good experiment. I assume it would be much like the Captains table that many people crave to be at.

You do not have to go to the bilge to eat on FORMAL NIGHTS....... if not dress to the nines........

 

Just look nicer and what is conformable to you or who every.

 

Having said that, on the Equinox TA next month I will only bring a sport coat(I do try to no look totally our of place LOL) and one pair of blake dress pants and two designer T shirt for under the sports coat, no tie ever.

 

However after the cruise, we have 10 days in Spain, and then 14 days in France planned so packing is a real issue. LESS is BETTER for us

Agreed. Not saying the wave didn't happen, but if a wave that high left damage and debris on deck 10, imagine what it would have done to the portholes, panels, balconies, and windows on decks 2-9? Also, I think the RCI CC page would be bombarded with live online posts from the ship.

 

We'll all see eventually.

 

I agree, a wave as big as people seem to speculating, would have done considerable damage and potential loss of L******, and we would have known about it before now. Remember the Freedom getting hit by a surprise tropical storm wave. she took a beating and lots of ship board damage and we knew it about it quickly.

RC's web site will only let you book on the deck they want to sell right now. When I book I pull up a web site that allows me to see what cabins are available at that time, then go back and try/tried to put the cabin I want into to the change your cabin field, and they say it is not available or in another category and still will not let me change anything. I guess calling is the only answer right now.

We have to agree, inside cabins are OK on some cruises, but overall, we prefer, a cabin with a window, not necessarily a balcony.
The Balcony cabins come with special cruises,(long) places unknown or un cruised, IF YOU CAN GET THE BALCONY on THE PREFERRED SIDE OF THE SHIP for that itinerary.

Always dine in the MDR on formal nights. Yes we dress nicer that usual, maybe a sport coat but never formal. Dress is now all over the place from ill fitting suits, to old and dated clothes, or clothes that no long fits and old body well ,to the WOW factor of fabulous clothes.

DO NOT BELIEVE ThAT YOU MUST DRESS in FORMAL WEAR on Formal nights.

As and ex smoker, and cigar lover, WHY would they waste the space for a cigar lounge??????? Having said that, I would love to try a good cuban again, but but, I no longer want to smell of smoke, and what ever I can do to, perhaps, extend my health, I will do it.

Maybe RC should, I doubt that they will, follow CVS's lead and stop selling tobacco products.

 

By the way good luck, if they do add a Cigar lounge that will be fine with me.

But after thinking about the issue, RC is enjoying a $50+- stock, bookings are up, nothing major has occurred to make cruisers go away, so why not attempted to bring the bottom line up.

I wonder how this might effect, all of us who own stock. I never read all posts so did anyone see if the shareholders benefits have or will change with the new OBC offers.

We have tried the honey strung chicken many times, some were good and some were *****, I would not miss it if it is gone.

Not to hijack, but there are many food items to die for that some how show up on embarkation day, that never show up again.

One I can remember on the Monarch was a Shepard's Pie and even a wannabe cooking chef traveling with us though it was to die for, but never again did we find it on any ship. Also lots of outshining india dishes that appear on the first day, but never after.

Than normal, please no bib overhauls or shorts, a jacket would be nice, but not necessary now days, no matter what is said, read or screamed.

If dressing to the nines is your thing, go for it you will not be out of place or alone in your appearance.

When you reach diamond level many ships have diamond lounges. The diamond Lounge can be a great place to meet some very nice people.

 

Sent from my XT1030 using Tapatalk

 

That may be the perk of all, meeting lots of very nice travelers, who can share lots of experiences and knowledge.

LOL, but I want to do a cruise that takes me to the Pacific islands Bora Bora etc, RC does not do this area well and I hesitate to use another cruise line, for the reason my bar bill might be more than the cruise if I do not get some free drinks i.e.. Diamond lounge.

Is good for me since my clothes shrink in my closet, by packing early gives me a chance to buy clothes that if, if necessary.

Dress will be all over the place, hopefully not shorts, baseball caps, or

bib-overhauls. On formal nights for men the dress will be from outstanding, to just pants and shirt to TUX and every thing in between, but please, just look nicer than normal, and yes a jacket not truly required, but it does add a nice look.

Women, and I have see Outstanding, Great, good, Bad and UGLY, almost anything goes if it looks good. But remember the old RCI cruise director joke, "just because they make it in your size, you might not want to wear it."

I sail on Both RC and Celebrity, I am 73, and have a big hearing problem. I will have to agree on loud music, because any background music that is too loud shuts me(and about 50% of the cruisers on board) out of any conversation. When the music becomes loud, all, people will then raise there voices to talk over it, trying to keep the conversation going, which again raises the volume of the venue/bar. The type of music does not bother me, however, being hearing impaired, I frequently fall back to the older style of Frank,Dean, and others for the simplicity of the music with good articulation of the words. There are lots of modern era artist that provide the same music style as well. However my love of Rock/Country/R&B etc, DAM I love Pink Floyd, Clapton, Bonamassa, ZZ top, Greatful Dead, etc and I have even learned to like,YES, RAP LOL well some of it anyway. while this music is not for bars, there is just not of this music on either cruise line.

I have no idea, who makes the music choices, or the way music is presented, but I have to agree RCI needs to make some changes in music genrees and how loud it offered in different venues

Having been on 4 transatlantics, all were cool to cold andn many rainy for days, I guess we are unlucky and used the balcony very little. So this year, found a deal, and booked just a obstructed view balcony just in case the weather is nice. But, if and I did not check, we are on the shadow side of the ship it will be cool.

If I could just get a big window in a good location, for the natural light, I would go for it, of course, price is the winner, especially if the difference between the window or balcony are close together.

And that is the DJ response, I do believe they(RC) might have a pre approved/copyrighted songs to play????? Or he just did not wants to find the song.

Anyway I have been rudely spoken to a couple of time, I might have deserved it, but I do follow all rules except dress code for the MDR LOL. However I just forgot it and went on,

All people are human(yes even ships staff have bad days), your expectations, as others have said, might be too hight or you are overly sensitive.

Southern islands are my favorite. I really like them all, but...:

 

FAVORITES:

 

• St. John (via St. Thomas)
  
• Dominica
  

 

 

LEAST FAVORITE:

 

• Aruba
  
• Barbados
  

 

 

Can you tell I prefer the less developed ports of call?

 

We just do not like Aruba, nice place but tooooo high end. One trip to Barbados and you might have seen it all. Curacao is our favorite to date, we may actually fly back and stay a week. Other ports are good, but seemed limited to one time stops, but we are not snorkelers and not really beach people.

The only good thing about the Art auctions on cruise ship is that they are an activity, the free champaign and if the auctioneer is good you can get a great history lesson. But you better know your art before you buy. And yes we were sucker in on the won painting thing, and to top it off my wife is an very good watercolorist LOL. Having said that, if you know art and pricing of it you might get a REAL DEAL, well some rare times.

 

Need art, and not the masters or featured artist like Kincade, buy local some great art can be found in your hometown.

The vision class ships have "much vision" that is there are lot of windows with indoor seating areas that you can actually see the Ocean/views from. The lack of this feature is one of our complaints on more modern ships.

Is a true adventure, especially when there are no real consequences.

 

Reminds me of my Jimmy Buffet style days in the Keys.

I can understand why RC did away with some libraries, however I would hope they have some place/area for sharing mags. Books, etc and a quiet place to to play cards games etc and yes even read on your e reader. If they took the space for profitable venues that would be a disservice to cruisers.

It didn't get taken away

 

MY apologies for the poor writing, I must have been thinking about the later part of my post, where I said I was using the OBC from Share holders benefits on my next cruise.

RCCI started the stock holders benefits then took it away, Not a good policy. I bought mine when it was around $7 and I still hold on to it even at $51. I find that sometimes it the benefit works for me, I booked a TA with a TA tour group and did not need an up grade, so I used the stock holders benefit to get $250 OBC. Yes I might need to do the math, but my price with the agency was toooooo good to worry about.

 

A possible suggestion for RCCI, would be to give OBC based on a formulae for amount of stock held and the price people are paying/length of the cruise. They used to give OBC just for 100 shares, based on the length of the cruise.

Bring a variety of clothes for beautiful, warm, cool, and rainy to cold weather.

Plenty of money, probably lots of close out items for sale, especially clothes, well most are for women LOL. Expect that if rainy outside does not mean that RC will adjust to more inside activities, last year they did not.

Just set back and relax, TA can be a very stressless type of cruise.

 

Heck yes Jeans, well most jeans(you might get different views here) are acceptable please no bib overhauls. You might want to pack a sports coat, not necessary but makes jean look better in the MDR on special nights.