TwoMisfits

14 hours ago, iuki said:

It was RCI who turned him into the police and immediately terminated him.  RCI stated they have zero tolerance and are fully cooperating with the authorities. They discovered this during an inspection.

Keeping their liability down - if they didn't report him instantly, their possible civil damages could have been epic..  Once the police have all the victims identified, RCCL will be paying out the nose anyway to each of the victim's families to avoid the inevitable civil suit.  This one, b/c RCCL is the actual employer and it happened on their watch, will be pricey.

So, I know you just wanted to know tree nut items, and you said contamination can be okay...but...

You will be out to sea, away from premiere medical help if your spouse does run into the allergen.  While his previous reactions have not been life-threatening, that may not be the case for his future ones.  So, failing to inform the waitstaff of allergies seems like a really bad idea.

I understand your spouse may get more limited in his selections - I also have tree nut (and mango and dairy) allergies.  But more limited safe selections should always be preferable to unsafe ones.  If the allergy is not mentioned, it will not be prepared in a safe area nor with as much care.  It will be in a contaminated fryer (if it's a fried item) or in a contaminated grill/pan, possibly right next to tree nut products.  It may get made with someone making a tree nut dish, and then turning around and prepping your spouse's.  It's just not worth a gamble, since eating out with allergies is ALREADY a gamble, and now you're just adding to it.

If he won't mention the allergy, I would skip all vegan friendly items and all Asian items (especially Indian and Thai) and Mexican moles.  Cashew dairy products and unsafe almond flour (since all tree nuts, except coconut which is not biologically a tree nut, in the US are processed on the same lines without allergen level cleaning/sanitation UNLESS the product specifically says something like "these almonds were processed in a dedicated almond only line/facility") will be used extensively in vegan friendly stuff.  And Asian cuisine LOVES tree nuts in their savory dishes.  And all moles include nuts.

Again, though, I'd contact special needs and get his allergy listed.  If he already needs Benadryl just for ingesting a few nuts, he needs to be safe with his choices, and he can't be safe if the chefs and waitstaff don't know about it.

14 hours ago, CGinMTL said:

I have never been loyal to a brand

Always look at price and itinerary to make my decsions

That's me.  If I have free drinks every day, maybe it would be a harder call, but I don't, so it's easy to shop.  

I have RCCL this year, and next year looks like land based trips...and then we'll see if value returns for certain cruises on any of the lines I'll sail in 2026...

1 hour ago, WrittenOnYourHeart said:

It’s become kind of a tradition to do a “Toast to vacation” selfie. This one was colder than usual!

 

 

(The drink is From Here to Orion from the Bionic Bar. Cuervo Gold, Blue Curaçao, and Sprite)

 

Came up to the Solarium to read for a bit before dinner (only problem with evening cleaning - it’s between 5 and 8 ) and nature started showing off.

 

Thanks for letting me know about breakfast/brunch pre-orders.  Since I have allergies that greatly affect the regular menus, I'm sure they'll want me to pre-order those, too...and I never even thought about those meals til now...

8 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

Goodness gracious. How on earth does the company make any money, with all those free drinks and free cruises?

Normally, they make 10% off the throughput, and most gamblers will not stop and only gamble one cruise to get perks.  They will gamble on their free cruises, thus ultimately paying for the cruise through the throughput on that cruise.

1 hour ago, odis said:

Ok, great. Thanks for the information. This is my first RCI cruise with the dynamic pricing.  

However, if you buy now, you will set the base level for dynamic pricing...aka, the more folks who buy, the less likely the price will ever drop...so only buy if it's a price you will definitely live with.

Like, the drink package is the cheapest for my cruise (even more than Black Friday - albeit just $2 cheaper/day) - still too high, so I still won't buy...but we'll see if it comes down more as folks hold out.

If everyone holds out, that's when prices drop with dynamic pricing.

43 minutes ago, TheInnocentAge said:

That's still seems really high. I checked the next two cruises we have booked, and on one the deluxe package is $57.99 and the other is $65.99, far removed from the $42 we paid on Symphony just a few years ago.

My Symphony is still $73/day + tax/tip.  My spouse has said he doesn't want it for more than $60/day b/c he doesn't want to get fat on the cruise - gotta love the reasoning, but I am saving a ton of money.

This is its lowest price...so there's that.  But it's still ridiculous.  Guess we have a lot of drink voucher folks that need to be covered by the alcohol department on my week...

2 hours ago, island lady said:

 

No the website clearly states all cruises are cancelled.  😧 

 

I have an email into the owner of the beautiful winery guest we are staying at in Dundee Oregon.  They have those 2 weeks available, just waiting to hear back to give them the money.   Actually I think it will work out for the best anyway, I have had serious doubts about the American Empress anyway due to bad reviews that have come about since I booked.  

 

The worst thing is...I will probably never see my money refunded...that company is that bad.  Will give them 30 days, then hiring a lawyer.  Even if the lawyer takes half...I am still that far ahead of zip.  😉 

Did you have travel insurance?  Some policies and companies will pay for tour bankruptcies...

2 minutes ago, livylotte said:

A no brainer for me - it would be Option 2 Immersive Africa for me.
Sailing round Africa is a once in a lifetime - what’s the point of making that journey if you can’t get off the boat.

The Greek isles can be done any time. 
 

Immersive Africa would also be my no brainer decision.  I don't remember which one gets more OBC, but the sea days to stop days are just better spread...and why not see some African sites if you're gonna sail around it?

10 hours ago, aac1623 said:

Just got done on the Mariner and this was our first Royal Caribbean cruise and I was not impressed with the majority of the food. The buffet was just OK, lots of options though! The MDR was hit or miss, the service was fantastic and we loved our waiters. The New York strip steak I had on first day and 4th day. The first day was great, the 4th day it just wasn’t as good. Attached is a pic of the lobster Mac and cheese, there was nothing cheesy or lobster about it 😂😂 it had 2 tiny pieces of lobster and that was it. I’m not a picky eater by far, this is the only thing I didn’t eat, but nothing was “great” to me. I also noticed the portions were small in MDR. I ordered shrimp cocktail as an app and it came with 4 shrimp. I’ve cruised Disney and princess before so maybe that spoiled me some. 

Okay, if that is lobster mac and cheese, it does look awful...and lacking lobster and thickness/creaminess.

30 minutes ago, SUgwoz said:

While I will not be purchasing the milkshakes.  I am not sure why it creates an uproar.  There is free dessert options, there is free ice cream, someone could theoretically make their own free milkshake, there is cheaper options for a standard milkshake.  They just also have premium shakes that are at a high price.

 

If I order a Like it (Small) vanilla milkshake at a local Coldstone is $6.59 before tax.  Some may add tip.

If I order a Minty Chocolate Specialty milkshake at Toothsome Chocolate Emporium in Orlando its $17 before tax.

If I order Ice cream at a pool bar at Gaylord Palms hotel, its $9 before tax.

 

Everyone seems to accept the alcohol pricing (or maybe because majority on here just uses vouchers), but the milkshakes apparently is the line drawn.

 

 

You've hit the nail on the head.  If the vouchers were removed, I'd expect alcohol would get just as much uproar as the milkshakes, b/c both are ridiculous...

6 hours ago, Minuet888 said:

It cut off my sentence but notice my post mentions my autistic son.  Autistic people (most of them) have issues with lines, usually because of the stimulation of anticipation (seeing something but can’t get to it) and lines are in smaller enclosed areas which is a nightmare for an autistic person.  So that’s why I asked if there are long lines what do I do?

The Key on most ships gives a reserved time for attractions 1-2 times during the cruise.  Lines will be short during those times, especially since they aren't popular times (think early and meal times).  I'm not sure they have ever put "short line" waits on most ships (although maybe that's coming to Icon).

If that reserved time works for your son, you'll be set.  If not, cruising on a megaship where activities are "seen" every day but need to be waited for a lot, may not be the best vacation for your family.

4 minutes ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Isn't that true of all businesses?  

Personally, I like hypothetical discussions, even if they're not likely to bring about any changes.  

A lot of people don't -- which is why the ship ought to offer limited foods but. not full-scale dinner options. 

Right.  You can't draw a direct line between every single thing on the ship and a line on the profit spreadsheet ... doesn't mean those things could be done away with.  

Of course tone exists in writing!  

The kids' club brings the kids to the Windjammer to eat. 

But still at kid dinner time.  They go from 7-10pm with nothing.  3 hours of play and a kid is ravenous after...at least mine always were...like clockwork...

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Hard for me to believe people would choose another cruise line specifically because their buffet is open later, but I suppose some may do that,  I don’t plan our cruise vacations based upon the buffet being open after 9. I love the ocean and visiting other countries in a floating hotel. 
Goes to show everyone is different and that’s perfectly fine.

I can totally see parents with kids leaving kids program at 10pm and being shocked they can't pick up a treat and drink for their now-starving kid at the buffet.  In fact, I am surprised WJ isn't open til 10:30pm, just for that...I mean, if it's a family line, 5pm kid dinner is pretty early and then they don't serve food in the kids' room, I don't think...

I say this as one, who in days past Carnival, Disney and even Royal cruises, may have been the parent sitting at a buffet from 9:30-10:30pm with a kid and a brownie or soft serve ice cream and a glass of water or milk...

Hmmm, I see my joke about the ziplocs ridiculousness missed:)...

Yes, you can't take food off anyway (at least not legally), so the previous poster's concern that it would be the "snack off board" is an obvious non-worry...

2 minutes ago, ZoeyVictoria said:

I believe that would immediately become the place to pick up snacks for excursions and the car trip or flight home. 

If you want to bring your own ziploc products on board to take a cookie or carrot for your airplane ride after spending probably $1K/person minimum for your trip on board - well, you can.  And it's not like you can't do it with morning breakfast, when the stuff would be a lot fresher...

Just now, Ocean Boy said:

But then you have to wait for them to get around to delivering the order so you are confined to your cabin until they do when you might have other plans.

And who wants to order room service just for a PBJ or bag of chips or a piece of fruit?  You'd cut down on so much waste (people taking things back to the cabin "just in case" and then not eating them) and personnel time (huge burden of room service vs just one extra snack area) if you'd just keep a single serve snack section open at Windjammer all night (or at least til shut down of all night activities)...

I would love a single size snack section open on Windjammer.  

Whole piece fruit, cookies, pretzels and potato chips, baby carrot or celery sticks, single package cheese, biscuits or bread or even crackers, single serve peanut butter and jelly packets, applesauce packs, jello cups, etc.  Things that wouldn't go bad all night, but would be nice late for kids or adults. All of this could sit out hours with almost no issue (one employee would just need to be around to keep it up)...

4 hours ago, SG65CB said:

 

I think 90% of the complaints about one-entrée-at-a-time are because people want to order the lobster entree and the steak entree together on lobster night. They have been doing it for years to create a surf-and-turf dinner, and now they can't. If RC would make an exception to allow this I believe most complaints about the policy would go away.

It's funny - pre=Covid and before my allergies, I would ask for the vegan entree but with a fish filet on top (I'm a huge fan of veg and fish).  Half the time, I got one plate exactly as requested...half the time, I got both entree plates in full delivered together (and then wasted the sides from the fish, b/c I didn't want them - thus why I ordered the vegan entree as the base)...

10 hours ago, BND said:

As far as you know.  As I said, then what when they get back?

\Maybe that's when they are moving to senior living.

5 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

As stated by many people on this site, RCI isn’t going to lower prices on fares, excursions, packages, etc. that are selling well at current prices. 

EXACTLY!  In dynamic pricing, you NEVER buy early unless you can live with the price you got.  If you buy early, you've guaranteed the price will never drop below a certain baseline for every purchase.

RCCL items are now like airplane seats.  They set a certain base price, and if they don't sell anything, they might drop the price, but if they do sell, the future price will never be below that base price.

I gave in and bought one lunch this black Friday so my kids could try oysters for the 1st time ever...it was under $100 for 6 all in (5 adults/1 kid), so that was good enough for me.  Everything else was a pass...and will continue to be at these prices...

1 hour ago, fizzywm said:

Thank you! Coincidentally, I ended up reading one of their threads the other day in a search for allergy info. It had a lot of great advice. Some stuff I didn't think of like (e.g.) asking the head waiter for something general like "a dessert with chocolate" for the next night if you are unable to eat the ones on the menu due to allergies. Thanks @Husky1987 and @CatLadyFemme!

Yeah, since my allergy combo is the dreaded "dessert" combo of dairy (kills regular desserts) and tree nuts (kills vegan desserts b/c tree nuts are almost always the dessert dairy replacement), I'm hoping that if I don't see any possible desserts, I can ask for a bag of plain potato chips or a scoop of (non-mango) sorbet.  Not sure either will be possible, but it can't hurt to ask so I don't just always end up with jello.

I contacted RCCL b/c I have multiple severe allergies (dairy, tree nut, mango) and like PPs said, they wanted me on traditional dining.  They actually preferred I was on the 1st seating, but either would be okay.

With dynamic pricing, don't buy unless you can live with the price permanently...by you buying, you've permanently increased the lowest price it will ever be offered (ala airplane seats)...

So, even when sales come, they arrive with a higher price level to start...

I decided to buy nothing for my cruise yesterday.  I'll look again on "real" Black Friday and Cyber Monday...and then if still the same, I'll wait til Christmas/New Years.  If I don't see a price I want for something, I'll keep passing.  If nothing else, it may end up discounted on ship if no one buys...

2 minutes ago, dcgrumpy said:

 It's on sale for $152 for my cruise. Insanity. LOL 

That's my waterpark price...it makes things so easy to pass...