YlangYlangF9PB3E

On our last cruise we were seated for lunch at a table for two. The next table for 2 was practically joined to ours so we started a light-hearted conversation with our fellow diners. One of the men was a true comedian who kept us laughing throughout. At one point he told us he was once a priest...we thought it was part of his schtick and waited for the punchline. But no, it was true. He became serious for a moment to say that he'd left the priesthood to become a pediatric neurosurgeon, now retired. His friend showed us his official hospital photo. Just amazing how you can never judge a book by its cover.

Yes, we are trying MSC next October, 2019. The Meraviglia is coming to New York. It’s a new ship. It will be in NY for the month of October, before transitioning to Florida. They match status and being D+ gives us their top tier of Black. We just want to try something different. I know we will never leave Royal. Just want to experience another cruise line.....we have done Carnival and Norwegian years ago.

 

Gwen [emoji3]

They match our status? Great!! I wish Holland would. I will definitely check MSC’s itineraries. Thank you. 😊

Came aboard with you a little late, seadog67, but so happy I made it! I love "LIVE FROM" threads, and am so thankful to those who make an effort and take the time to bring us along. Yours looks like an especially good one. Thank you and have a wonderful trip -- I will be with you all along the way:)

There is no "tone" in the written word, only what you read into something. I find Carole's posts very informative and to the point. Gee, maybe being a retired English teacher has something to do with it. She doesn't represent Royal. She is a cruiser that has taken more cruises than most of the posters on here, combined.

 

 

So maybe you need change your perception of the information presented.

Haha. No tone in the written word??? Tell that to Shakespeare.

Because it's correct. Because asking again won't change that. Why does being informed and sharing that information seem to be a bad thing to you?

What is a “bad thing to me” is a sarcastic, arrogant and condescending tone. Consistenty. If you are, in fact, a representative of Royal, that tone should be a “bad thing” to them as well.

I you are flying a low-cost airline you often use the F finger (yes, it's called that). It's very long. It can easily take 15 minutes to reach the end even if you are a good walker.

 

Yes, we were on this cruise as well and flew home on Norwegian, a non-stop flight to Ft. Lauderdale. We used the ship’s excursion to tour Copenhagen with airport drop off. The bus dropped us at Copenhagen Airport at 12 noon. Our flight was at 6 pm, and we were unable to check in until after 2pm. We were stuck with all of our luggage with limited seats available, waiting to check in, along with 300 others on our packed plane. At about 2:15 a very, very, very long line formed, where we waited for almost an hour to check in. After all of this, the long walk to the gate seemed like an after-thought. But yes, it was quite a walk. Those with mobility issues were driven to the gate.

$1 per drink can be more than needed in some situations. If I order two beers then I think $1 is an appropriate tip. If I order a mixed drink that takes them time to make then maybe more $ is appropriate.

 

It certainly depends on what you are ordering and if they are serving you well. But normally I drink beer and tip between $1 and $2 per round for me and my wife depending on circumstances.

 

They are more than happy with a $1 tip each time IMO because some don’t at all. I have always gotten to know our go to servers and they are very appreciative and we always become close during the trip.

 

I tip at the end my first time as diamond after reading CC but never again after that. Just kind of a weird thing IMO. They have no idea all week if you are just stiffing them and then they are always slammed the last night. Doing it in increments works much better IMO and then they know you are taking care of them all week.

We tip $1 per drink in the DL, and the servers are VERY appreciative. We also tip $1 if we use our 3-drink cocktail hour card outside of the lounge, and the bartenders seem even more appreciative than the lounge servers. Makes me think some Diamonds do not tip anything, anywhere.

Really? https://boards.cruisecritic.com/search.php?searchid=126420795

Link doesn’t work for me. Really.

It is NOT unsustainable!

 

Sorry, having trouble posting today.....

It is NOT unsustainable!

 

They are just getting more and more freaking greedy! :mad:

yes, and they are building way too many monster ships. The cost of THAT is unsustainable. Far easier, though, to penalize customers who were, and still are, encouraged to rack up C&A points to achieve these “unsustainable” benefits.

It is NOT unsustainable!

 

They are just getting more and more freaking greedy! :mad:[/quote

We flew Aer Lingus last December. I had no idea there were carryon restrictions, and I travel heavy. No problem.

My wife is a stroke survivor and in a wheel chair. We have never had a problem. If your father was in wheel chair, could you have pushed him on board yourself?

My husband requires wheel chair assistance as he cannot walk more than several feet without excruciating pain and needs to rest. He uses a cane with a seat, but must stop for several minutes. It’s just too hard for him to navigate the long lines and crowd. He does not bring a wheelchair. If he did, there is no way I would be able to wheel him up the gang plank. I am amazed at the crew members’ strength when they push him up the steep ramps. We tip them very generously to express our appreciation. I think there have been some folks who have abused the service - those who could walk but feel they’ll get on board faster with assistance. Royal used to be very accommodating to all. But now, unfortunately, Royal has put these guests and guests who truly require assistance at the end of the line. It’s happened on our last few cruises. If there was a better way for us to get onboard, we would love to do it. PS.....we have witnessed many people who, after becoming frustrated with the long wait, give up and walk onboard.

We are booked on a 16-day TA leaving 4/20. I was counting on those 2 days of internet to check in with family members while in the middle of the ocean. So now, in order to get the two FREE days, we’ll have to spend $223.86 ($15.99 x 14)?????? Gee, thanks, Royal. Can internet still be purchased on a daily basis?

[emoji3] agree with you JC.

 

I hesitated to contribute to this thread, as I disagree with the majority of opinions and think some of the suggestions are absurd - and usually people get flamed for that.

 

Nice to see all the Diamond Plus/Pinnacles weighing in with their opinions about reducing benefits to Diamonds.

 

I imagine you all would have had a different opinion about this issue when you were Diamond.

 

I am a Diamond, and I do enjoy access to the Diamond lounge for breakfast and the free drinks. I DO drink more than 3 drinks in happy hour.

 

I think some of the sanctimonious comments (from people who are above Diamond status) providing ‘solutions’ to overcrowding of the Diamond Lounge by limiting benefits to Diamonds are offensive.

 

I think the use of overflow areas is fine to address the overcrowding issue.

 

 

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Agree; agree; and agree. And I love the word sanctimonious to describe these people. Good post.

I remember it well.

Some people don't like change and some can't see what going to happen in the future.

Now reality is beginning to set in. It will give people a higher goal to make D+

THen they'll change D+.

Unlimited drinks between 1 hr before the start of early MDR seating and start of late MDR seating.

Unlimited drinks in DL for 3-1/2 hours.

Gary, what ship had that menu?

We were on Independence last month...same menu. That was the best meal of the cruise, and so worth every penny. A real value. Ordered the wedge salad and have been craving it ever since. Tried to recreate it at home and came close, but not exact. Had the tenderloin and each of us ordered 2 sides. Everything was perfect. I highly recommend lunch at Chops!

We had a recent, similar experience. Waited and waited for the drill to begin; kept hearing announcements of passenger names. Seemed that several people decided that they really didn't have to show up at muster,

and the rest of the 4000+ passengers had to stand and wait for the crew to find them. After about 25 minutes a small group of 20-somethings were shown to their muster station. One blue-haired girl was giggling as she passed in front of me and I wanted stick my foot out to trip her. Seriously.

Will do. This is my 4th cruise with Victoria. She’s a love. And I’ve only met jacqui this cruise, but she clearly cares. I don’t say that often about DL concierges.

Victoria is absolutely wonderful! and the more you get to know Jackie, the sweeter she becomes. Enjoy, and thank you SO much for relaying the message. :)

Will do. This is my 4th cruise with Victoria. She’s a love. And I’ve only met jacqui this cruise, but she clearly cares. I don’t say that often about DL concierges.

Victoria is absolutely wonderful! and the more you get to know Jackie, the sweeter she becomes. Enjoy, and thank you SO much for relaying the message. :)

Jarmo, Victoria is now in the Viking Crown. Alternating between Diamond Lounge and Olive or Twist. I’m not sure I’ve seen Nick or Adrian. Yesterday it was all women.

 

More thoughts:

 

Because there ended up being 14 of us, we tried to make it easy on our Chops waiter Shaymus from Turkey. He did the starters family style (and the sides) and we each ordered our main meal.

 

Everything was good. But the bacon appetizer is different. I always remember it having a sweeter glaze. It doesn’t anymore. Still good though, but preferred the old glaze. My 6 oz filet was cooked perfectly, and the truffle fries are tasty.

 

Today we had a little drama. Giovanni’s lost our reservation for tonight. Jacqui the diamond lounge concierge is great and really tried to fix it. But they have no tables tonight. And for some reason our MDR tables aren’t linked even though we all were linked before hand. Finally 6 of us were put together in MDR and they’re trying to get another table nearby.

 

We have a letter confirming our Gios rez tonight. So the maitre d’ is trying to do something for us the last night.

 

I excused myself from the drama and went and got a massage :)

Jackie and Victoria, our Diamond Concierge and Bar Attendant, are the ultimate representatives of Royal Caribbean. We were on the previous cruise that docked on Thanksgiving morning, and they, more than any other crew members, made our cruise special. If you can, we'd be so happy if you told them that Birthday Bob and wife Nancy send xoxo's, and have submitted our survey with glowing remarks to both. Thanks!

The reconstruction of Pier 25 has begun, so all non-Oasis ships are likely out of Pier 29. In all my years, I've never been to it. And it looks way tucked away, far from the mid-port garage, with far more limited space for drop off, lining up etc. Any recent users have comments? Helpful or otherwise?

 

I did a search before posting, and I only came up with one random mention in someone's current live review of Indy. And I board her on Thursday.

 

I didn't put this in the Ports board since the terminal is pretty specific to Royal ships.

 

Thanks,

If you are driving in and must use their parking garage from this far-off terminal, and if one person has a mobility issue and has to be dropped off and wait at the pier as the other person drives to the lot in bumper-to-bumper traffic and then waits to take the shuttle back to the ship, and on the return trip the spouse with mobility issues must wait as you get a shuttle to retrieve the car and drive back to pick him up, it is a NIGHTMARE. Just did it yesterday. Otherwise, it might be fine.

Just passed 27.33N 33.68W. It's a beautiful day, only a few clouds, temperature just above 70F. Very litte motion in the ocean.

Nice! Glad to hear that the weather is lovely:cool:

Great! We board on 11/27 and look forward to seeing the Compass. I hope you enjoy the cruise director aka Bing Bong. We've had him twice and love him! Enjoy your cruise! :D

Bing Bong?? LOVE HIM. He was our first Royal cruise director many years ago and we've been hoping to see him again. That just made my day. Thanks!