schlimazel_traveler

We sailed on a cruise on 5/23.

Shortly (maybe a week) before, we had to cancel one passenger from one of our cabins. It had been booked for 3 passengers during a "kids sail free" promotion, so passenger #3 had only paid taxes and gratuities (which we'd prepaid due to using MTD).

We were told we'd be credited back the taxes and gratuities, which seems only fair. Certainly, there would be no reason to charge us gratuities for a passenger who wasn't on the ship.

The only credit on the bill (from the day before we sailed) is $27.16. They said they were crediting us more like $500.

I am anxious because apparently they never sent anything IN WRITING confirming we would be getting a refund and now I'm concerned they are going to say we aren't.

There is also one in the Solarium.

If there is one in the Solarium, I didn't see it on our 5/23 sailing.

The website isn't set up to book these cabins.

Call and talk to someone at the cruise line.

The RFS we stayed in could theoretically hold all of you, but the accommodations would be as follows:

1. "master" BR with bed for two (could be separated, we had it together) and bath with tub

2. teeny-weeny cubicle, just big enough for the actual bed, sleeps four(!) if you fold down the pullmans. Our daughters were ok in there, but it really would be cozy for four.

3. fold-out sofa that would have taken up entire living area had it been folded out, leaving nowhere for anyone to sit.

The bath that was off the main area was a teeny one with a stall shower.

I think you might be better off with separate cabins, and just meeting up for meals and hanging out in one of the public areas. There are lots of nice areas you can convene. We liked sitting in the Schooner Bar, which has curved banquettes that seat several people, so a group of 7-8 could sit together for drinks or trivia or whatnot.

Another thought would be to take the RFS for 5 people and put the others in another cabin nearby. Only those in the RFS would get the suite benefits, but this would give you a third bathroom, a third closet, two more actual beds, and use of the living room in the RFS as a living room.

We had to pay the full amount of gratuities--the total meant for everyone including wait staff and room steward--ahead of time when we did MTD.

Is it possible they want to create a disincentive for MTD? It can't accommodate everyone.

I think if I had $200 OBC to spend and didn't want a beverage package or shore excursions, I might spend some of it trying the specialty restaurants.

And there are a few things in the shops on board that are reasonably-priced--can OBC be used for duty-free cosmetics? I could come home with a year's supply of Clinique stuff, I guess.

So I've just read this whole thread because I have just started to understand the whole MTD deal and am considering switching from Traditional early seating to MTD during my upcoming cruise in about a month.

 

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I know to each their own and I'm still trying to understand MTD but I've always done traditional dining and usually that works for us but on this upcoming trip on the Freedom the early seating is a bit early and the late seating is a bit late so I was thinking of changing. When I called RCCL they told me that I should wait to get on the ship and see what times they had available for dining before switching because the traditional dining times were on waitlist so she wouldn't want me to lose that if the times I did want weren't available. She did tell me that the reservations are like 15min apart... 7:00/7:15/7:30, etc.

 

So my question is - if you are told that only MTD is available (other than the tip reasons) and you really wanted traditional (early or late), couldn't you just make reservations every night in the MDR close to that time? And I thought that I read that you can always request the same section/waiters if possible.

Yes and no. It wouldn't be exactly the same because (at least on the ships I've sailed on) the MTD diners are on the "balcony" overlooking the main dining room. So, for example, when the waiters perform, you might not be able to see them. Depending on where you're seated, you might be able to look down into the main dining room, but you might not.

We also were not seated at the same table each night. We had the same waiters twice, and a different team of waiters three times (only at in MDR 5 nights). We may have been seated at the same table once, but it might have been a different one--in the same general location--each time.

I enjoy getting to know the waiter/waitress in the specific area and having the same seat every niight but I'm not sure (for me) that outweighs eating when I want to or not having to rush back to the ship to get ready at an early time for main seating. I am traveling with 2 teens and I'm wondering how MTD would impact what we are accustom to. I want to sit with just my family of 4, at the time I reserve, either wherever they want to put us or in the same waiter/waitress section in the MDR every night.

That, we got. Just the four of us, at the time we reserved. Just not the same table/waiters. (The two waiters we had were right next to each other, though.)

Can that happen with MTD before I opt to switch when I get onboard? Just wondering why everyone wants Traditional Dining so much that there is a waitlist for it or is it just because of the prepaid tip thing?

 

Thanks

One of the other things we kind of liked about traditional dining was that the other people around us were the same--good for people-watching, you know? But we did think that the convenience of picking our own time was worth it and I would do that again. I'm frustrated over the pre-paid gratuities situation, though. I would sign up for traditional dining and try to switch to MTD on board, except that a mom we met our first day of our last cruise tried to switch when she found out how late the late seating was, and was told MTD was "full." (The balcony is smaller than the main dining room--I could see how it could get full--although I imagine they can move people through there more quickly. I don't think our meals took anywhere near as long as I remember them taking in traditional late dining.)

If you weren't planning to use OBC for gratuities, go ahead and do MTD. You'll like it.

There are five.

Two just inside each entrance of the Windammer and one next to the Ben and Jerry's on Deck 6.

We were always able to get a drink.

Love Desmond!

Used my WOW card to praise him, and also gave him our leftover ferry tickets in case he ever gets to leave the ship in Bermuda.

funny thing is i got 1 soda from a bar and the rest all from the soda machines. gratuity galore.

I guess it works out to about $1/day gratuity on the soda-only package, and we did see people servicing/filling the machines throughout the cruise. So I guess a service charge isn't out of line.

Wow, really? You can get a package that includes all the cocktails, wine, bottled beer, frappucinos, frozen margaritas, bottled water and freshly-squeezed orange juice you can drink but you'd have to pay extra for a Sprite Zero?

That just doesn't seem sensible!

Hi Clarea, Thanks for sharing that link. It was exactly what I was hoping to find. I was especially glad to see they have Sprite Zero. I've never been able to find anything non-caffeinated and non-caloric on a ship before.

Gayle, if you sail one of the ships that has Freestyle soda machines, you'll have literally dozens of choices for non-caffeinated diet sodas. You'd need at least the soda package (~$6.50/day) to use the machines. On ships without the machines, you would need to choose a package that includes canned (not just fountain) sodas, because I think the Sprite Zero is only in cans.

The late night menu in the Park Cafe includes hot dogs, which can be served with chili, nachos (cheese and/or chili--the cheese is that Cheez Whiz sauce like at a ball park or movie theater), pizza (as noted, frozen-type), some dessert items, some grab-and-go packaged sandwiches (tuna fish, e.g.), maybe some grab-and-go cut up fruit in a plastic cup.

I found it convenient to pick up something (cheese and breadsticks, a piece of fruit) in the Windjammer earlier in the day to have in the cabin as a late-night snack.

The Cafe Lattitudes has one case with the ice cream and one case that has muffins and danish in the morning and then shifts over to cookies later on. Everything in the muffins/danish/cookies case is complimentary but you won't see anything informing you of that. I thought the carrot-raisin muffins were very nice and they were just the thing around 10 a.m. We had our breakfast early and were hungry before lunch!

We try to find a salt shaker, but we can't always find what we're looking for.

Just got off the Summit today. There were also cuts in activities which were very obvious. It's sad because Bermuda is our favorite place but after 2 trips on the Summit we won't be returning.

Which activities did you notice were lacking?

We're currently holding reservations on both the Summit and the Grandeur of the Seas to go back to Bermuda next spring. I'd love to try Celebrity, but, at the same time, we really enjoy having things to do/watch on the ship. I'm carefully watching what folks say about the activities staff cuts before deciding which cruise line to go with.

Twice out of Baltimore; once on Enchantment in December 2012 and once on Grandeur in May 2014. ;)

 

 

:)

I remember reading your "live blog" of your Enchantment trip (it was right before our first cruise), and then saw you were going to be on a Grandeur sailing after ours this spring...I thought it seemed that you were a frequent Baltimore cruiser. Instead, it's just a remarkable coincidence that we've been on nearly the same sailings twice!

I personally would be worried about motion sickness.

I think you've sailed quite a bit out of Baltimore--sometimes there are a couple of days of rough seas. My whole family felt sick on an Enchantment cruise to the Bahamas in winter. One in our party was seasick on our Bermuda cruise on Grandeur last week. Both times we were glad to have mid-ship cabins to retreat to.

The interior cabins are pretty tiny, but I think I could probably spend my whole cruise happily sitting in the Schooner Bar.

Can anyone give me any suggestions on how to solve this problem?

My husband and I booked two cabins on the Silhouette for early January. We have two young adult daughters. We don't know if they're going to come on the cruise or not. We might wind up with one or the other (with a friend in two), both of them, or neither (and I guess we'd see if we could find another couple to join us).

I didn't think this through well and currently have one cabin with our names and one with the daughters' names. I think I'm allowed to switch names around in the cabins? Is there some cutoff? Final payment is October.

But there's a bigger problem--the FLIGHTS.

We have to fly down to Florida and I'm not aware of ANY way to book four flights with two TBD names, or to transfer a flight reservation from one name to another.

Does anyone know a solution to this problem?

FYI the casino reopened each port night at 9 pm on Grandeur of the Seas last week.

Funny you should mention this.

I had a next-cruise certificate purchased in January 2013.

Used it on a cruise last week, which I booked after final payment, so the whole thing was just a whirl on the phone and I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be getting.

I got $100 on one of my two cabins, and then spent the whole cruise trying to get the other $100 on the other cabin.

The folks on board agreed I was entitled to it, but the folks back on land told them that was a "limited time offer" and I was entitled to $50 per cabin and they'd put it together on one of the cabins.

I still think I was ripped off.

AND I didn't get credit for the $100 deposit I paid when I bought the next cruise certificate.

There was a family on our cruise who wanted to change from late seating to MTD before the first night's dinner. They were told MTD was full.

The other advantage of doing the MTD and making your reservations for 6 PM each night is that you won't get surprised by having the time changed to 5:30, which happened to everyone who booked 6 PM traditional on our cruise.

6 PM is ok--5:30 is just too darn early for me!

The only downside to MTD, I thought, was that we did not always have the same waiter. We had one team for two nights and another team for three nights. (We ate in the Windjammer on formal nights.) But their stations were right next to each other.

If you like to watch the waitstaff perform, you might not be able to see it from the upper level, or if you eat in between traditional seatings as we did.

(Another downside is having to prepay the gratuities. That is irritating.)

Another option is just to turn off your data.

That way you could still text/receive texts. Our plan charged 50 cents to send and 5 cents to receive, so we could, in a pinch, find each other for $1.10. We also exchanged a text or two each day with the daughter we left home alone.

You probably already know this, but be sure to factor gratuities, drinks (either packages or pay-as-you-go), shore excursions, and so forth into the budget.

P.S. I'm looking at what I think is the cruise you are considering on Costco Travel and it's about $2200/stateroom for 2 passengers. So maybe look again?

Just got off a Grandeur sailing to Bermuda last Friday.

You will be able to get on/off the ship in Bermuda as often as you like. If you schedule your excursions right, you won't even miss lunch on board.

There were activities continuing while the ship was docked, although, as noted, the shops and casino are closed during the day. (The casino reopened at 9 p.m. each night.) Meals were served, bars were open, etc.

One caveat I might mention is that the best way to get to see many of the sights of Bermuda is to take a ferry to Hamilton or St. George and work from there--if your wife needs a break from water craft, you may need to budget more time for getting around by bus or taxi. Take a look at the map--you'll be docked at the point of the "fish hook." It's a long way around to Hamilton on land.

Trying to decide what drinks package if any would suit us, we're a family of 2 A, 2C. Evenings for us will be taking in the shows after dinner, so a few drinks of wine with dinner and another one or two afterwards.

We do enjoy our specialty coffees during the day and lots of sodas, so the RR package seems best. I can't see us making use of the difference between the RR and the Ultimate. May opt for the RR and some wine bottles.

Kids will no doubt have the Royal Replenish sodas.

 

I know that sharing isn't allowed, but what are the rules on ordering another drink on the same card shortly after ordering the first one?

 

We're on a 14 night cruise so packages quickly add up.

The soda package for kids is even lower in cost--maybe $4.50/day?

Are you on a ship that has Freestyle soda machines?

If so, the only thing one needs to operate the machine is the mug with the RFID chip that comes with the $20 Royal Replenish. If you don't drink much soda (and I assume your kids don't drink much coffee), you COULD, rightly or wrongly, just hand over the mugs that will come with your package to your kids. The machines don't ask to see your seapass.

I thought the sheets were quite nice. They never pulled out at the bottom or bunched up.

We bought bamboo sheets at Cariloha in Nassau and I'm not happy with them at all, FWIW. They're wrinkly and seem undersized.