foodsvcmgr

I brought a sport jacket on Liberty last week but missed the dress night on the first sea day due to relying on just the basic program displayed on the app. If you don’t get a paper copy of the full schedule or put it on your phone via the QR code you won’t get a lot of detail such as suggested dress, drink of the day, etc.

To concur with Jerseygirl - we also disembarked Liberty today, had late seating and spent all five nights in the MDR. Enjoyed all our dinners, found the quality and portions the same or better than what we have experienced on Holland America and Celebrity in recent years, excellent service also. We were not in any rush but four courses still only took and hour to hour and a quarter. Before sailing we were somewhat concerned about the menus from reading comments here but no issues at all. All dishes were served at proper temps also. Had also read on CC about the ship being somewhat tired and run down. I looked but could find nothing worn or neglected other than the backs of the theater chairs are pretty scuffed up, again nothing worse and much quite a bit better than other ships. After 55+ cruises and this being my first on Royal, would not hesitate to book again.

Steelers36 - please explain the process of attempting to replicate TD. From what I gather one should prebook a consistent late time slot (8 or 8:30?) via the app then request DR mgmt. to try to keep the same table? I have avoided Princess since TD was eliminated but see a trans-canal itinerary of interest.

Merion Mom - certainly under $30 pp pd.

Although I don’t care for the practice this is nothing new. I’ve seen countless brochures over the years from many lines that included tight shots of people eating and drinking that were clearly stock and not even taken aboard a ship.

I’m not sure why the feeling is that this is only for new cruisers. I have taken nearly 60 over the years, but the Key suits my personal likes and dislikes. i.e. I despise any sort of waiting so anything that can impact that is huge for me. I don’t like clamoring for a seat in the buffet on embarkation day, I like at least the possibility of a reserved show seat, I like a priority tender if not taking a cruise line shore excursion, etc. So for me this absolutely has value, particularly so at a decent price point.

Buffet24 we live just below Atlantic City so it’s only a little more than an hour and half drive for us. We have used the pier parking in Bayonne before, it’s very easy and connected to the terminal.

Thanks for the excellent review and photos. Very interested in all your information as we will be boarding Liberty on May 13th.

As a retired F&B Director I can practically guarantee this is a violation of company policy, yet it’s interesting that RCCL doesn’t make more of an effort to monitor it.

Any ideas or rumors when the full ocean to ocean sailings will be released?

Thanks for the outstanding video safarigirl. As a great fan of ships horns I hope to witness something like this returning to Southampton 1st of September on QV as QM2 also arrives back on the same day. I always look forward to the Noon test of the horns sea days on QM2. Does QV do this as well?

Let’s say I book now for 2025, a year from now the fares are reduced, still many months from final payment. What is anyone’s recent experience calling NCL to lower the fare for their reservation? Is it cheerfully accommodated or do they make you cancel and rebook?

Looks good, thanks!

Thanks everyone, how were your bird and wildlife viewing opportunities in the South African ports?

Looking at N. Dawn for 2025 Mauritius to Capetown. I would have preferred the r/t Capetown to Namibia offered this season and last, anyone have any idea why they have changed the routing for ‘25? Also has anyone taken one of the current Africa itineraries, curious for any comments and insight as I was last on the Dawn way back in 2004.

Us also, interested in the menu rotation but hoping Liberty happens to be one of the ships that prepares it well most importantly.

After reading this thread for the last couple years and seeing the endless difficulty and frustration, has anyone heard even a murmur about ever resuming traditional dining as an option? It amazes me that Princess is so enamored with their questionable technology that they won’t even consider relenting a bit in just one MDR maybe. I see a couple of newly announced Caribbean sailings for 2025 that look interesting but the dining is just a downer for me. And yes I’m clear on how MTD is supposed to work.

I was strongly considering a r/t Capetown sailing for 2025 but looks like NCL will be doing one way now either sailing from or ending in Mauritius. An interesting itinerary but horrendous airlift getting there from the US. Also I was much more interested in the scenery and wildlife in Namibia which has been dropped for ‘25. Very disappointing, especially as no other options below luxury level cruises.

Pre-reserve or just pull up to garage?

QA would certainly seem logical from the marketing perspective, I never expected to see her assigned to a World cruise so hard to say just what Cunard thought process is.

Valid point exlondoner and flying out of UK to one of these islands likely has decent non stop airlift as a bonus. But if the intended passenger base is not American they sure were trying to convince me anyway. I wonder which ship would be dedicated to these sailings? I’m thinking QV.

Mine was largely sample Caribbean itineraries sailing from Jamaica or other various islands. I answered all the same “inconvenient departure Port”. Not sure why they seem so intent on operating standard itineraries easily homeported in Port Everglades or Miami out of Jamaica with limited airlift. Not appealing to me. I at least got to cast my vote for formality and fixed dining however!

We took Deck 13 as the cabins were new plus the preferred shower door. Minimal movement one night on T/A, not an issue for us. Quiet as it’s a short corridor only and nothing really going on above. I’d take Deck 13 again.

A number of shore excursions for Celebrity Eclipse Antarctica next January are already showing as sold out, Plus there are way less in total per port than what Princess was offering on my prior cruise to South America. Is this typical currently? Will additional space (extra coaches) be added? Will different tours be added closer to sailing? To make matters worse I made some direct contacts with operators in Stanley and were told they can’t book direct, only through the cruise, yet nothing resembling their tour appears on Celebrity’s listing which makes me think maybe I’m early rather than too late. Anyone with recent experience? Thanks.

Thanks for the positive input, looking forward to experiencing the menus myself.