sharktums

I think that's fine, but at MCO it does depend on time of year, are you checking bags, do you have status with your airline, do you have TSA Precheck or Clear, etc. 

We have never had a problem dining at a specialty restaurant on embarkation day with the UDP. We've also used the ala carte credit at multiple locations on the same day.  This was on Icon last month as well as many other ships. 

We were on Icon in mid-April with the UDP.  AMAZING time! Group of 9 of us, all Diamond or Diamond Plus and we agreed it was just an amazing ship and a great cruise.  

We went right to Izumi after boarding to try and book all of our dining for the week.  We were able to get everything we wanted except for an Izumi Hibachi Lunch. 

One thing I had seen conflicting reports on was using the UDP for Izumi in the Park and they had a list and we had a $10 credit per person every day so we got snacks there quite often. Playmakers and Basecamp were great combining our UDP credits so we could get a ton of food. 

Windjammer definitely seemed a little bit upgraded.  They had whole burrata one night?!?! Always had multiple fresh action stations, and like others said steak and lots of seafood the first lunch.

Let me know if you had any other specific questions but we thought it was great and we're just hoping that Star will help prices get back to a more normal range soon!

Our friends just did ESC on Icon this week. When I went to book it for them on Day 1 after boarding at 10:30am they only had Day 1 available and were nearly sold out. They had UDP so it was a bit cheaper and they said it was one of the best things they've done and it was well worth it.

To the poster asking about the Chops Iconic Cuts menu, we asked our server and he was very honest with us and said the Wagyu wasn't worth it at all but that the other cuts were good.  We ended up not upgrading and the meat was the best we had ever had at an RCCL Chops restaurant. 

I've done this many times before with groups from 10 - 22 and we've done pretty well.  Like the poster above said, get on the ship early and head immediately to the specialty dining reservation desk or one of the specialty dining restaurants. Have in mind what nights/lunches you want to dine where. Have everyone's cabin numbers written down as well. Dining early or late will give you the best chance of eating together. Some ships they have put big tables together for us so we can all sit together and some ships they'll put us at separate tables next to each other. 

I usually make a pretty simple document and print it and give it to the person working along with a $20 bill for the trouble of making all the reservations. It is a process for them. 

What did you need to call for? I find I can do most of what I need online without talking to a human. I far prefer not talking to people on the phone!

^^I think you're reading way too into this. They're not going to do an authentic 1800's old west menu as that wouldn't appeal to most of their demographic. 

Does anyone on the inaugural have the Ultimate Dining Package? Very curious to hear where and how you can use that at all the new venues. Mostly the '$20 ala carte' type places?

Bumping this thread from the dead to just see if anyone has recent experience on the 3 night Navigator cruises and what is actually open for Embarkation Lunch?

App says only Hooked, JR Express, and Playmakers for embarkation lunch, but I had read previous reports where it was Jamies?!

Any recent Navigator peeps can share?

Interesting seeing a lot of success on Indy, I wonder why it's so empty?  We actually just got our RoyalUp accepted for Indy over Thanksgiving which I never expected and especially didn't expect this far before the cruise!

Went from a very cheap interior guarantee to $55 a person promenade (which we like a lot) so I'll consider it a win!

It seems to differ by ship and staff.  And we were even told one time they couldn't, so instead I booked a full remove polish and then the nail tech was like, oh yeah, of course I can do a fill!

There seems to be 'selective enforcement' with the "you must be in the photo" rule.  Sometimes we've been told you can't and sometimes it isn't even questioned. 

We did this last summer on a private bus for my group and both ways it was less than two hours each way.  As long as you go early there usually isn't traffic. Meanwhile, those who had done the train fell victim to Italian train strikes and some people missed the cruise. 

Yup, we also had this glitch for our Icon cruise planner yesterday. Dumb. 

I thought Wiegand was announced to be doing all of the dry and water slides on Royal for a bit?

We did the Ultimate Dining over Thanksgiving on Wonder and while it was the most challenging ever to get the reservations we wanted we did really well and got almost everything at the early times we like. Hibachi was by far the hardest, followed by Mason Jar. 

On Adventure right now and saw this…

^^Our letter said we would be charged for an extra day (at a discount) of any internet, drink, or dining packages.  Normal food and all activities were included.

^I'm still waiting for the folio email, when we left this morning we still didn't have our bill on our door. Saw some of the room stewards putting them up as we left. 

I cruise a lot with groups of 8 - 20+, we always have just made the reservations as soon as we board and you have to be prepared to split tables as most will only do a table of 10 at the most. Also with big groups they want you to either dine in the 5pm or 9pm hour. 

Wow, this thread got away from me a bit!

A few notes as I was the original poster...

- Multiple times the captain and cruise director reminded everyone that they would do this same diversion for you or your family members and I think that needs to be emphasized. 

- The captain DID keep us as updated as he could. I think it was quite clear when we left Puerto Rico after 9pm that we weren't really going to make it back Sunday.  Even if we had, there's no way they could have staffed up the port, dealt with luggage, refueling, resupplying, and boarding the next 6k people around midnight. It was a holiday weekend and I assume it took longer to get through all the red tape to figure out an exact plan. Not to mention Brilliance and Serenade were also having late arrival issues at this time. We kept joking the poor corporate intern who was left in charge over the Holiday weekend must be crying in a corner at HQ!

- We had a really nice, long conversation with the revenue manager Saturday night. Mostly to give him a break from getting yelled at but he had stories from guests that they had every right to be upset about. Someone had surgery scheduled for Monday, someone was doing a once in a lifetime Disney trip Sunday before flying home, there was a Universal marriage proposal supposed to happen, international guests were having a harder time getting flights home, etc.  There just wasn't a good solution for everyone and we all have to accept that.  Out of our group of seven, we had five that were excited, one that would get in trouble at work, and one teenager that burst into tears when the captain announced a Monday arrival as she had plans for Sunday. We all survived and have our RCCL official letter to give work and school to try and get an excuse!

- I was a bit surprised when they told us we'd have to pay extra for the 8th day of internet, food, and beverage packages but as it sat with us longer we all decided we were actually ok with this. I think we were mostly surprised just because most of the trip reports I read on here when something like this happens they all post that it's extended at no cost and that RCCL picks up the extra day of gratuities as well. 

- Missing Coco on this trip wasn't a big deal for our group, but we felt really bad for a lot of the families, northerners, and people who haven't had a chance to visit yet.  We didn't expect to get anything for missing the port as we've only ever gotten taxes/fees back in the past so were very pleasantly surprised to get $200 for the miss. I do chalk that up to it being an expensive holiday sailing. It was kind of entertaining that this sailing went from 3 sea days to 5!

- Can we make 4:30am debarkation a permanent thing!?!?  Seriously! I mean, if you need to get 6k people off a ship clearly it helps to have more time to do it and there were a decent amount of crazy people up at that hour (including my group!) to get out of there and back to real life. 

- We did the UDP and all the specialty restaurants were great.  I do agree with others that there seemed to be less salad bar options in Windjammer and Park Cafe. I liked the new Windjammer and thought they did a good job with most of the food options in there. This was my first El Loco Fresh and I liked it a lot. So did everyone else on the boat as there were always long lines and missing food. 

Ok this was a lot...happy to answer any other specific questions and hopefully not start any more drama!

Wow. I was fine with everything and the communication as I understand all the behind the scenes stuff until they said they’re charging us for everything tomorrow!!?? And I have to go stand in line to cancel if I don’t want to extend!!?? Oof. 

Captain said we’d be getting a letter later today with more details. I assume they’re also working on an email to the next cruise passengers with options. 

Monday morning arrival. 

2 hours ago, Bead Pirate said:

I take it my 2:00 PM reservation for the Mason Jar lunch on Sunday is unlikely to occur 🙂 

Ooo maybe I’ll go take that reservation! 🙂

Patient and family are in ambulance and they are pulling the dock up now. Hoping for an update in the next hour or so. For those of you talking in the thread about rumors, the current talk near me is that it was a man in his 60’s who suffered a heart attack or stroke near windjammer this morning.