NutsAboutGolf

The Millie crew reports the last two sailings were only around 300 pax. I believe the older sailing was their last Alaska sailing and their last was a repositioning to San Diego.

Did you get to try the Eden Cafe cookies and/or brownies, generally only available during lunch hours on sea days?

Did you have basic or premium?

It's literally a total crap shoot but it seems repositionings/TAs/TPs will most likely have a low pax count.

FYI, I leave the auto-gratuities on, tip the porter and room steward (on the first day), usually tip the dining staff at the end and may tip various folks who go above and beyond. Not entirely sure what you mean to "reduce", I'm just pointing out, right or wrong, some folks simply remove all the gratuities and never tip anyone or remove and tip just the cabin steward and their dining staff.

No surprise, like it or not, gratuities are more likely to rise every year or so than to drop.

No luck at all on the Millie either asking the Tuscan M'D, their host, nor the people posted at the OV buffet. I'm consistently being told no discounts except for the packages or the pre-cruise first night which is obviously no longer available.

We have just under 800 pax, the crew was telling me the last two sailings had only 300, wow!

Thanks, you asked the M'D/host or the specialty dining sales team often posted by the OV cafe?

It isn’t, far more activities in the printout

Like it or not, do you have any idea how bad cruising is for the environment? Cargo ships are even worse…

The other thing is the internet speed has been the best I’ve ever experienced at sea…Except for a slight dip before dinner, the download speed hovers about 2Mbps…Generally you have issues if it’s at least .7-1.0Mbps depending what you’re doing but even then it could be very slow. While Musk’s starlink should be online by Q1 2023, who knows if X is able to meet that deadline

795 pax, which is 36% pax capacity…Amazingly not busy, however there are still waits for Blu at dinner…Photos we’re taken at around 1030am yesterday which was the first sea day

Exactly this, here’s a recent one I received

People cancel all the time, go to the host stand on the first night to see if you can get on the wait list

No, unless it’s a big party

Going to attempt to negotiate on the Millie soon and will report back; we are specifically wanting multiple nights at specialty dining. Did you just show up to restaurants host stand and start negotiating with whomever was there?

Very true, could vary by ship

Thanks for following up; Michelin Star Reviewers/"inspectors" only care about food while service and atmosphere are ignored.

Do you recall the ships and restaurants?

How exactly did you receive the discount, did you ask the M'D or did they offer it to you?

Been on 8 sailings since the restart, haven't seen any specialty dining offers. Twice I've overheard conversations between pax and the specialty dining person who stated something like the only discounts they offer are the multi-night packages. Was reading in the past people negotiating half off or being offered BOGO deals, wondering if they still exist on any ship or if they're gone.

1) Blu Breakfast, despite Blu only being open for 90mins for breakfast, I've never seen it full (Equinox and Infinity) so I can't imagine breakfast being an issue. 2) Ship class determines the size of Blu, M-Class has the smallest Blu so that may make a difference to whether you can walk in unannounced or are required to talk to a M'D.

It's always been time of day as well: Fastest speed is from 9pm-7am. Worst times where it's not uncommon for things to fail to load is 45mins before and after the buffet/MDR opens and port arrivals/departures.

Besides the pizza and burgers, what did you think of the taste of the food between the two lines?